The Boy Who Saved Brennan
by CooperTrooperSG1
Summary: After the events of the Season 3 finale, Booth and Parker convince Brennan to come on vacation with them, all trying to mend the damage done by recent events. BB UST, plus Parker. Rating is only for a few words, just to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

The Boy Who Saved Brennan

By CooperTrooperSG1

Rating: T (for language, just to be safe.)

Summary: After Zack goes to the institution, Booth convinces Brennan to come with him on vacation with Parker.

Spoilers: Up to the Season 3 finale.

Author's Note: This is sort of like a prequel to my Christmas and New Year's stories. I actually started writing it a really long time ago, after the Season 3 finale, but I never finished it. I think posting it will encourage me to finish it. I have more than half of it done, I think. Also, it's only a quasi-prequel, because if it were a true prequel, a couple of conversations in my other stories would be redundant. But I didn't want to take them out of this story, where they originated in the first place. Thank you for reading, and I hope you like it!

Ch 1

Temperance Brennan was not happy with the past few months of her life.

First she had been forced to confront feelings that she openly acknowledged existed on a societal level for the propagation of the species but had been lucky enough to largely avoid encountering on a personal level for most of her life when she and Booth had been left in charge of the baby Andy for several days. Then of course she had to deal with the sense of loss she felt at their separation, even though she was genuinely happy that Andy had ended up with his new parents and felt confident that they would give him the wonderful home he deserved.

Then there had been her father's murder trial, which she was still avoiding thinking about whenever possible because she simply did not approve of the conflicting feelings that the trial had caused. She was confident that she had done the right thing under the circumstances. Ninety percent of the time, at least.

Then, she had watched her partner get shot because of her.

She had thought he was dead for two weeks.

Sweets and everyone else thought she had dealt with the situation rationally and moved on. But they were all wrong. The truth was, she was still in shock two weeks later. At the funeral all she felt was numb, like there was no way this was actually happening to her because she just didn't have the right equipment to handle the situation. She went through the motions of life that everyone expected of her on autopilot, numb from head to toe.

Then suddenly there he was, in uniform at his own funeral. And all sorts of feelings came back.

Before she had time to really begin processing that as well, the lab blew up and they had the first, horrifying disaster with Zack.

Then the second, worse disaster with Zack.

How had she not seen that? She had felt closer to Zack than almost anyone she knew, on one level. Emotionally she was much closer to Booth and Angela, but as far as sharing similarities she had always felt that Zack had the closest personality, mental wiring, and outlook on life to herself. That he had killed someone because he had been duped into Gormogon's false belief system… what did that say about herself? And what did it say about herself that she hadn't seen it happening to Zack? That she hadn't recognized that he needed something from her that she wasn't providing?

She felt more responsible for what had happened to Zack than she had ever thought she could possibly feel responsible for someone else's actions.

She didn't know what to do. Being at work felt wrong without Zack there. It wasn't comforting her like it usually did. It was like learning the truth about Zack had tainted that place. She hoped it wasn't a permanent stain, but tonight she had been forced to go home.

Not knowing what to do there and not in the mood to write, she had decided to take Angela's long-standing hints, which seemed reinforced by her recent discovery that Booth took baths as well, and decided to try taking a bath.

So, she was sitting in a scalding tub of bubbles made with shampoo instead of bubble bath because she had never bought bubble bath in her life. She had a book, a glass of wine, and had lowered the lights in the room to a level more conducive to relaxing. But so far she couldn't read. All she was doing was sitting in water naked while thinking about everything, instead of sitting somewhere else dressed thinking about the same things. The bath idea didn't really seem to be working.

She was debating giving up and getting out when her bathroom door opened quickly and her partner entered. "Booth! This is a really juvenile way to get back at me for entering your private space uninvited!"

To her extreme annoyance, he smirked. "Sorry."

"No you're not."

"No, I'm not. But I didn't really do this on purpose, Bones."

"The symmetry would seem to suggest otherwise," she replied. The bubbles were covering her, she knew. Still, she felt more comfortable once she sat up a bit and hugged her knees to her chest.

"I know," he said, setting the towel she had on the closed toilet lid on the counter instead and sitting down.

"Hey," she objected.

"I called all your phones. You didn't answer. I got… concerned."

"Booth, you shot Gormogon yourself. Nobody is in danger anymore."

"I know… I know that. I just don't feel it yet."

She knew what he meant. With the revelation about Zack, she had been feeling very paranoid herself lately. She nodded.

"I knocked on your door and you didn't answer but your car was here. I just had to make sure after that. Sorry. I'll go."

"Why did you want to talk to me in the first place?" she asked, waving away his offer to leave. The initial surprise over, she quickly realized he was becoming more uncomfortable seeing her in the tub than he had been when the situation was reversed. That seemed to indicate that he was more uncomfortable with the possibility of seeing her naked than in her seeing him naked. Interesting… she would have to dissect that concept more fully later. For now though, it was interesting to see how he would try to extricate himself from this situation.

"I just… I was thinking. I know Cam offered you some time off away from the lab."

She nodded. "It's not necessary."

"Then why is everyone else taking it except for you?"

"I don't need it. They do. They need some physical distance to emotionally recover from recent events. I understand their need but I don't share it."

"I share it," Booth admitted quietly, not looking at her.

The way he said it, and his body language, suggested that he thought she would think this was a weakness. He believed he was admitting to a weakness. "That's normal, Booth."

"Gee, thanks."

"I meant… I don't know what to say. I'm sorry."

"I wanted… the reason I was trying to call you was because I wanted to ask you something."

"That stands to reason."

"Can we please not talk about reason for a while?" Booth asked, a hint of desperation in his voice.

She nodded, for once not arguing or saying anything. She understood that it had been hard for him to watch her reason Zack into his confession. It had been hard to do too, because it was scary to think how well she understood why he had done what he had done. But she could respect Booth's need for temporary avoidance. She might actually need the same thing, if only she could figure out how to get it.

"I… I want to ask you something and I want you to think about it before you answer. It might seem overwhelming at first but… sometimes when things happen, big things… you might have to react in a bigger way than you wanted… I'm not trying to rush you or push you or anything so…"

"Booth – would you just say what you want to ask me to do first before you assume I'm going to say no?" she interrupted, seeing that he was about two seconds from leaving without even asking her. And if he did, that it would take her a while to chase him down, since she was currently naked in the tub.

"Parker knew," Booth said. "I… he was on the list. Sweets didn't screw that part up at least. Rebecca told him I had been hurt, but I was getting better, but that I had to go undercover for a little bit and couldn't come to his basketball game… he never thought I was dead but he was still upset that I couldn't contact him, and that he didn't get to actually see that I was okay after being shot."

Brennan nodded. That at least explained Rebecca. When she had tried to call to see if Parker was doing okay, Rebecca had been very abrupt. Brennan had assumed Rebecca blamed her for Booth's death, since the obsessive woman had been trying to shoot her, and hadn't tried to contact her again.

"Anyway. Rebecca said I can take him for a week. I want to take him to the beach… a quiet beach, not a loud one. After everything that's happened, I think it'll… help. I just think it will help."

Brennan nodded. She didn't necessarily know how much it would help Parker, but she was certain that spending time with Parker was always good for Booth. "That's a good idea, Booth," she said, when he didn't say anything else.

He hesitated a moment and then added quickly, "And I think it will help if you come too."

"Doesn't Parker want to be alone with you?" she asked, confused.

"He likes you. And _he_ never thought I was dead. Bones… I think we need time to talk about what happened… without Sweets eavesdropping, without terrible things interrupting. I just… don't want to go another week without seeing you. No matter what you think, I did want to call you, Bones. I wanted to explain the situation to you myself. I wasn't given the option to do that, so I did the next best thing. It never occurred to me that Sweets would do what he did. I didn't even know it would be his choice to make, and I am really, truly sorry that it happened the way it did. Even if you don't forgive me you have to believe that I'm telling you the truth."

"I know you're telling me the truth, Booth." She thought for a moment about how she'd been feeling before he came in – like her sanctuary for when things like this normally happened, the lab, had been contaminated. Maybe the beach was the answer. And, despite the fact that she was still mad at him, she also didn't want to go another week without seeing him. Not after those terrible two weeks. "Okay," she said.

It took a minute for him to hear her. "Okay? As in… okay?"

"I'll go with you. Where and when are we going?"

"Wow. Thank you. Seriously, thank you. Okay, um, where and when… I didn't think you would agree this fast, if at all, honestly, so um, I'll have to sort out the details and get back to you…"

"Can I make a suggestion?"

"Sure."

"If you want a quiet beach… my publisher has a beach house in Florida – Anna Maria Island. I've gone there before, to work on my first book. It's got a stretch of private beach, the other houses are far away, it's big enough… I think it sounds like what you're looking for. I could call her and ask if it's available."

"That sounds perfect." He sat there smiling at her for a few moments before he re-realized that they were still in her bathroom and she was still in the tub, naked. "Um, I should go." He got up awkwardly.

She tried not to laugh and asked, "Have you eaten?"

"No."

She realized he very well might have already eaten, but by her asking she had just told him she hadn't, so of course he said no. "Do you want to order pizza?" she asked.

"Sure. That sounds great."

"Good. I'll be out before it gets here. Then I can call my publisher."

"Okay. I'll go call." He flashed another smile and hurried out of the room.

She waited a few seconds, until she was fairly sure he wasn't going to come back in because he forgot to ask her something. She quickly finished her bath, drained the tub, and got out. She dried herself off, put on her robe, combed out her wet hair, and went into her bedroom for some clothes.

"That was fast."

"Why are you on my bed?" she asked.

He was lying across the foot of her bed like a large dog, staring up at the ceiling fan, until she came in. "It's really soft."

She rolled her eyes and went into her closet, leaving it open enough to talk. "Sweets thinks we have boundary issues. I see why he thinks that now."

"He thinks YOU have boundary issues."

"Well, he thought that because I barged into your bathroom. You just did the same thing. It's logical to assume that he would make the same conclusion about you."

"Yeah but… whatever. Do you think we have boundary issues?"

"It depends on what you mean by issues, I suppose," she said. "I mean, we definitely do have boundaries. The fact that they don't always conform to what society normally sees as appropriate boundaries between co-workers and friends of the opposite sex doesn't necessarily mean that there's an "issue" there, in my opinion. We are not normal people and we do not lead normal lives. So to me, it would be more indicative of an abnormality or an 'issue' if we WERE still just like everyone else."

"Yeah," Booth agreed. "That's what I think too. I just think it… simpler."

She laughed and pulled her favorite sweatshirt over her head. That, with some old yoga pants, was her most comfortable outfit. She went back into the bedroom to get some socks from her dresser. "Anyway, we do still have boundaries. It's not like we were in the bathtub _together!" _she said dismissively as she sat down on the bed, next to his head, and pulled on her socks.

He turned sideways and was face to face with her foot. "Your socks are boring," he informed her, eyeing the solid light blue things with obvious disdain.

"No they aren't," she objected. "Just because they don't have a pattern or a cartoon character on them, and just because they match each other, doesn't make them boring! Feel how soft they are!"

She pressed the sock she hadn't put on yet against his cheek. "Hey, that _is _soft. I mean, ew!" he recoiled belatedly.

She rolled her eyes, laughing. "It's a clean sock, Booth. Just because it's a sock doesn't make it any less clean than any other piece of laundry when it comes out of the dryer."

"Still… just keep your socks off my face, please. Let's just make than another boundary."

"Fine," she said, putting the offensive sock on. "Anyway, they're slipper socks. I don't wear them with shoes."

"They're still boring."

"You just wish they made them in your size."

"No I… wait, they don't?" She shook her head. "Not fair," he mumbled. The doorbell rang. "Pizza!" he declared happily, hurrying off to get it. Smiling to herself, she followed.

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	2. Chapter 2

Ch 2

Booth knocked on Rebecca and Parker's door, a little nervous. He knew his son loved his partner, but that didn't necessarily mean he would want her coming on their vacation with him. He hoped Parker would be okay with the idea.

"Seeley? I thought you were picking him up tomorrow," Rebecca said in greeting after opening the door.

"I am, I just need to talk to him for a minute about our trip. Please?"

"Sure, come on in. How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Good," he answered, hand going to the bandage under his shirt automatically.

"Parker, your dad's here," Rebecca called.

"Daddy?" Parker squealed from his room, running into the room a few seconds later. He jumped into his father's arms.

Wincing slightly and shifting him to his uninjured side, Booth smiled at him. "Hey Buddy. How are you?"

"Good. Are you picking me up early? I'm deciding what to bring on our special trip!"

"You are?"

"Yup!"

"Good. Well, we're not leaving early, pal, but I just wanted to talk to you about something first."

"What?"

"Well, Bones is going to come with us to the beach. How do you feel about that?"

"She is?" he squealed in excitement. "The whole time?"

"Yup, the whole time. So, I guess that answered that. You're happy?"

"Yeah! I love Bones, Daddy."

"I know you do, pal. I just wanted to make sure you weren't surprised tomorrow."

"A good surprise, Daddy!" he concluded.

Rebecca cleared her throat. "Parker, I don't want you calling Dr. Brennan 'Bones.' If your father insists on it that's one thing but I've talked to you about this before."

"She _likes _it, Mom," Parker moaned. "I told you a thousand times it's not like Captain Fantastic!"

Booth cleared his throat. "Um, Park, maybe you can just call her Tempe."

"Tempe? I thought you said her name was Brennan."

"Yeah, Dr. Temperance Brennan."

Parker thought for a minute and said, "Is Tempe a nickname too?"

"Yup. It's what her dad and brother call her."

"So it's special too? Like Bones?"

"Yup."

"Okay, then, I will call her Tempe."

"Good. Okay, bub, I have to go. We'll pick you up tomorrow at four."

"Okay, bye, Daddy, I love you!"

"I love you too." He watched his son run off and turned his attention to Rebecca.

"Dr. Brennan is a bestselling author and world-renowned anthropologist, and you're telling your son to address her by a nickname."

"She's not those things to him though. She's his friend… and his dad's incredibly smart partner."

"Yeah, so I keep hearing. Listen. She called here to check on us… well, probably really to check on Parker. I panicked, because I thought she would have known about the undercover thing. I tried to cover the best I could but I'm not an agent or anything, Seeley. What happened, why didn't she know?"

"It's a long story," Booth sighed. "But, anyway, whatever you did worked because she still thought I was dead at the funeral."

"She must have thought I was being such a bitch… I was just blindsided…"

"Whatever she thought at the time I'm sure she realized that you were covering, once she knew I was alive."

"Well, can you just make sure she knows that I'm sorry?"

"Sure," Booth said, getting a little uncomfortable. He wasn't sure how chummy he wanted those two getting. Rebecca had always been pretty jealous of their partnership – partly, Booth knew, because she had originally been a fan of Bones's books, before Booth had even officially become her partner. He knew Rebecca was a little intimidated by her, which was understandable.

Something had happened about two years ago that started to change that. He wasn't sure exactly what it was because neither of them would tell him, but once Bones had called him and Rebecca had answered. He'd expected that to make things awkward but it had only seemingly made it awkward for _him. _Both of them had seemed fine.

"Seeley?" Rebecca prompted.

"Sorry," he said, clearing his head. "I'll… I'll tell her. See you tomorrow."

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	3. Chapter 3

Ch 3

Brennan was a little concerned about flying with Parker. She had been on enough flights with small children to appreciate those who flew well, and knew that Parker had never flown before. Luckily, her apprehension was unfounded. He was so excited to be flying that at first he merely stared out the window in awe, occasionally asking them questions about the plane and the flying process.

Once they had leveled off and there was nothing else to see out the window except a blanket of clouds, he turned his attention to a handheld video game for the rest of the flight. Brennan found herself glancing up from her book every few seconds, to look at her partner and his son. Booth caught her eye at it once and gave her a questioning look. She just shrugged and smiled. He went back to the crossword he was doing.

By the time they arrived, gathered their luggage, got their rental car, and got to the beach house under Brennan's directions, it was getting late in the evening for Parker. He was hungry and tired, and disappointed that the second they arrived they wouldn't be able to run out to the beach and play.

Brennan told Booth that her publisher had had the place filled with groceries, but Booth didn't want to wait that long to appease his son. He ordered pizza the second they got to the house, then began unloading the car with Brennan's help, while Parker ran all around the house excitedly, examining every room.

His room had bunk beds! It was across from the room his dad put his stuff in, and they shared a hall bathroom. The living room was next to the kitchen and had a giant television and DVD player. There was a row of DVDs underneath but Parker knew his dad wouldn't let him watch at least half of them. He had just found the master bedroom and bathroom – which had a huge tub, the kind that made bubbles – when Brennan came in with her suitcase.

"Hey, Parker. What do you think?"

"This place is neat," he said, flopping down on the bed. "I didn't know there was a pool!"

"Yeah."

"You been here before, Tempe?"

"Yes, I stayed here to finish writing my first book."

"Neat!" he repeated. "Daddy said we can get up and go to the beach first thing in the morning! We're gonna take a walk on the beach and maybe even race, then we're gonna make the biggest sand castle in the world! You wanna help us?" he asked hopefully, gasping for breath slightly after his long declaration.

"I don't know, Parker… I was planning on giving you some time to play with your dad by yourself…"

Before he could look too crestfallen, Booth found them. "Hey, Bub, what do you think you're doing in here?"

"Just talking to Tempe, Daddy. Why?"

"You can't just run into her bedroom, okay? You have to give her some privacy this week. And look how you've messed up her bed. Did she tell you you could get up there?"

He looked so confused at what two different adults had just told him that Booth saw it coming, and immediately knew he had been too harsh with his son, although he had no idea why he had taken it so personally.

"Look, Parker," he started.

Parker burst into tears and ran out of the room.

"Where's he going?" Booth asked, not expecting an answer. Before he could head after him, as Brennan shrugged, they heard the back door slam. "Crap. He has no idea where he is."

He started to go after his son, but Brennan said, "Wait. Let me do it."

To say he was surprised was the understatement of the century. Bones, offering to handle an emotional, upset child? She didn't even like to handle her own feelings, let alone other people's. What exactly had they been talking about before he came in?

"Booth? Hello, time is of the essence here, I mean he's little but it's getting dark out."

"Yeah, sure, fine, go," he said, still confused. Brennan squeezed past him in the doorway and hurried out the back patio.

Luckily, Parker wasn't foolish, even when he was very upset. He had run to the porch steps and was standing on the edge, clearly wanting to step down into the sand but knowing he'd be in big trouble if he did. He was still crying, but no longer howling, just crying quietly and catching his breath.

"Hey Parker," she tried cautiously. She didn't really know why she was doing this, or what she was doing, but… well, she felt sympathetic towards him at the moment. He wasn't the only one who had been extremely hurt by his father lately, after all.

He looked at her in surprise and wiped his eyes hastily on the hem of his shirt. "H-h-hi, Tempe. I'm sorry I bothered you."

"You didn't bother me, Parker," she assured him.

"Then how come you don't want to do anything with us this whole trip?"

She thought he was taking her polite rejection of tomorrow's early morning plans a bit far, but didn't point that out. It didn't seem as though it would be productive. "I didn't mean for you to think that's what I meant, Parker," she tried to explain. He kept eyeing the beach, still crying a little. "Look… you want to take a walk with me? On the beach? It's still light enough out."

"Daddy said I can't go to the beach till tomorrow."

"Well, we won't go in the water, and you'll be safe with me. I've been here before; I think it will be okay. Plus, what your dad doesn't know won't hurt him, right?"

He smiled, and held out his hand to her. She took it, mildly surprised, and found herself studying the delicate, still developing bones of his tiny hand automatically.

"I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, Parker," Brennan said quietly once they had reached the shoreline and stood there silently, staring at it, for several moments. She took a few deep breaths, enjoying the salty smell and the sound of the gentle waves. It was calming. It seemed to be calming Parker too. "I just didn't want you to be upset that your dad invited me along on your trip."

"Why would I be upset?" he asked.

"I don't know… I know you don't get a lot of time with your dad. And I know that… when your time with your father is limited… each moment becomes more valuable." Her voice caught, as she finally heard what she said out loud, and had been feeling since her dad's abrupt return into her life.

"Tempe? Are you okay?" Parker asked.

"Yeah, I just… was thinking about my own dad."

"Is he like my daddy?"

She laughed. "No, Parker. Your daddy is a much, much better daddy than mine is."

"Like how?"

"It's a long story… my dad… left. When I was young. He was gone for a long time. I didn't see him for more than half my life, then when he did come back… he did some really bad things. Anyway. That's not really what this is about. This is supposed to be about YOUR dad, not mine."

"My daddy got mad at me for even talking to you," he sulked, kicking at a rock in the sand.

"He wasn't mad. He just… he and I have gone through a lot of… problems… at work lately, and it's been really hard, so… he wants me to have a good time and relax and he doesn't always know what relaxes me. You know?"

"No," Parker said honestly. "But I don't like the springy animals anymore."

"I don't understand the connection," Brennan said, confused.

"When I was little, like a baby, my daddy would take me to these little springy animals in the playground. But I don't like them anymore – they're for little babies, not big boys like me. But Daddy likes to take me on them. He makes clop clop noises on the horse and quacks on the duck… so I still go on them even though I don't like them much anymore. Is it like that?"

"Yes, it's very much like that," Brennan said, surprised that Parker had grasped the basic concept of what she had meant.

"He still hurt my feelings," Parker sulked.

"Yeah. Sometimes that happens."

They started walking quietly for a few minutes. "On the plane and in the car I thought you were mad, like you didn't want to come with us. Then you said no to playing with me in the morning and then Daddy told me to leave you alone."

She recognized that Parker was trying to articulate why he had become so upset so quickly. "I can see how all of those things happening right in a row could upset you," she said. "What was I doing in the car and on the plane that made me seem mad?"

He shrugged. "I dunno really… you were really quiet. You weren't play-fighting with daddy like you guys usually do. I thought you didn't want me along, like when Captain – I mean Brent – doesn't really want Mom to bring me with them to a movie or something. I thought you were mad at me."

"I don't think I could ever be mad at you, Parker."

"So are you mad at Daddy?" he asked innocently.

What a loaded question! Brennan sighed. "That's a question with a long answer, Parker."

"We gonna be here a whole week! We got loads of time!"

She looked down at him in surprise. "You really want me to try to explain?"

"Uh-huh."

"Okay. Well, maybe we should sit down in the sand for a little bit. It's getting dark and we don't want to end up walking too far."

They sat down in the sand, facing the water. Parker scooted closer to her until he rested into her side. "It's pretty here. Thank you for bringing us."

"You're welcome, Parker. But you know it was your dad's idea."

"Yeah but he told me you got this place because you write such good books the people who make them want to keep you happy."

"Oh. Well, I hope you have fun here, Parker."

"I will. So why are you mad at Daddy? Because he was undercover?"

She looked at him in surprise. "How did you…"

"I was mad at him for that too, a little. Because they said on the news he got shot by a crazy lady, and died. But a teenager FBI dude came and told us that part wasn't true, he didn't really die, but they had to pretend he did to catch a bad guy. But I was mad because he missed coming to my game and he promised to be there. Plus he was supposed to take me camping last weekend. But I'm not mad anymore because he caught the bad guy, and this trip is way better than camping."

"Yeah," she said, not sure what else she could say to Parker's summary of recent events and feelings. She made a mental note to tell Booth that Parker had described Sweets as "a teenager FBI dude" – Booth would get a kick out of that.

"So that's why you're mad at daddy too?" Parker prompted.

"I'm not really mad at him," she marveled out loud, acknowledging the feeling for the first time as she said it. "Anymore. I mean, I shouldn't be, really. It was just a misunderstanding and it wasn't even really his fault. I just… it's not rational but I do still feel angry with him some of the time."

"For being undercover?"

"Not exactly. I um, there was a mistake. I didn't know he was undercover."

"Nobody from the FBI came to tell you?"

"No."

"You were there when Daddy got shot. The FBI man told me you saved him because you kept him alive with your hands until the ambulance came."

"Right. Well, I guess that's more or less what happened. They wouldn't let me stay with your dad in the ambulance. By the time the rest of us got to the hospital, they told us it was too late. That he… that he died on the way." She swallowed hard, resolved not to cry in front of Parker.

"And nobody told you it was just for pretend?" Parker whispered.

Brennan shook her head, blinking back tears. "I didn't know, like you did."

"For how long?"

"Two weeks. Until the fake funeral, when your dad arrested the guy he was undercover to catch."

"You must've been really sad," Parker said sympathetically, leaning into her side and hugging her. "I would be the saddest person in the world if I thought my daddy was dead, I think."

"Yeah." It was all she felt capable of saying at the moment without her voice trembling.

"So when you found out he was alive you were mad at him for not telling you from the beginning, because of how sad and scared you were the whole two weeks?"

"Basically," she agreed, somewhat reluctantly.

Parker nodded. "I would be mad about that too. Why didn't he tell you himself so he knew you knew he was okay?"

"The FBI said he wasn't allowed to tell anyone himself. And I understand that, and can accept it. But I'm still angry about it." He nodded against her arm. "So I'm sorry if you thought I was angry with you, Parker. The truth is, I'm just kind of angry in general right now. But that's one reason why I wanted to come to the beach."

"To get un-angry?"

"Yeah. It might take me a little while though. So I hope you don't take it personally again."

"Okay, I won't," he promised. "And Tempe?"

"Yeah?"

"If I would have known you thought my daddy was dead, I would've told you the truth," he said firmly. "I would've called you on the phone or if that didn't work, I would've rode my bike all the way to the museum to tell you!"

She looked down at him and smiled. "I know you would've, Parker. Thank you." He hugged her more tightly. She hugged him back. After a few moments, she asked, "Are you ready to go back now?"

"Yeah. I'm starving! I hope the pizza's there!"

"Me too," she agreed, getting to her feet and brushing sand off herself while Parker did the same.

He grabbed her hand again as they started walking. "Tempe?"

"Yes, Parker?"

"The FBI man told me when Daddy got shot, he was saving you. I'm really glad he saved you."

She didn't know what to say to that. She knew that Parker understood how dangerous it was to get shot. That he had just told her he was glad his own dad had been shot because it had protected her… she didn't know what she had done to deserve that feeling from Parker. And she certainly didn't feel any more worthy of it now than she had when it had just been Booth saying it was worth it. But she knew she had to answer Parker.

"Thank you, Parker. I'm glad your dad ended up being okay."

Booth was waiting nervously for them, at the patio door. He smiled in relief as he saw both of them approaching, hand in hand. They looked relatively happy. They were talking quietly, smiling at each other.

As Parker spotted his dad, he ran towards him. Booth grinned, happy to see his son so eager to get to him.

Until, that is, Parker arrived, and promptly punched his dad in the stomach with all his little might. It didn't hurt, really, but it was the act itself that shocked and hurt Booth. "Parker, what –"

"Parker!" Brennan exclaimed.

"You said it was okay to fight sometimes if you were defending somebody else!" Parker said firmly, before stomping inside.

"What the hell did you say to him?" Booth demanded, rubbing his stomach out of principle alone as Brennan reached him.

"I didn't think I said anything that would make him punch you, Booth! We just talked. He wasn't mad at you anymore… but I think that was him punching you on my behalf when he found out I thought you were dead for two weeks. I didn't realize he would care so much."

"Well how did that topic come up?" Booth demanded.

"It just did… we were talking about you and how you had hurt his feelings, which it turned out were vulnerable because he thought I was upset he was on the trip… it's a long story. Anyway, he's not mad at you for what you said to him anymore, so that's something, right?"

"Yeah, great, now he's just blaming me for the same thing you are – I TOLD you, I THOUGHT you were told the truth, Bones!"

She sighed. "I don't want to get into that again. Can we just eat, please?"

He sighed back. "Yeah. Pizza's been here for a while."

They went inside, where Parker was already sitting at the table trying to get the pizza box open. "Tempe, sit by me!"

Booth scowled at them both as Brennan sat down next to his son and helped him get a slice of pizza.

"Parker Booth," his dad said, sitting down across from them. "Do you have something you want to say to me?"

"Nope. I'm not sorry I hit you, Dad. You hurt my feelings for a few minutes. But you hurt Tempe's for two whole weeks, and way, way worse. I was just defending her – like John Wayne."

Booth sighed. "Maybe your mother was right about those movies."

"Parker, you have to let it go now, though," Brennan said quietly, wanting to ensure that Parker wouldn't be upset with his father for the entire trip on her behalf. That certainly wasn't what she wanted.

"What do you mean?"

"Let it go – move on."

"Forgive?"

"Yeah. Because the reason we're all here is to have a good time, not to carry a grudge."

He chewed his lip for a minute. "Okay, Tempe. Are you forgiving him too?"

"I'm trying my best. I promise. I suspect you're much better at it than I am, so you need to show me how it's done."

He thought for a moment and said, "All right, then. We can still play tomorrow morning, Daddy!" he reported magnanimously to his father.

Booth took a piece of pizza, sulking slightly. "Great. And for future reference, Parker, you don't really have to defend Bones. She already hit me at my own funeral."

"You did?" Parker asked in awe.

"Yeah. With an artificial arm."

Parker giggled at that for a long time.

"Hey," Booth grumbled.

After the pizza, Booth took Parker for a bath. Brennan took a quick shower in her own bathroom and was in her pajamas, combing out her wet hair when Parker ran into the room and jumped on her bed again, smiling at her. "Did you escape from your dad again?" she asked, smiling at him in the mirror.

"Nope. He said I could say goodnight," Parker reported, climbing to his feet at the foot of her bed so he was her height.

She turned from the mirror to face him, smiling at his Batman pajamas, which were complete with a detachable cape. He held out his arms to hug her. She hugged him back, marveling at how happy he was after such an intense evening. That was one thing about children that she somewhat envied. They were remarkably resilient. Even their bones…

Before she could start down that train of thought, Parker had planted a somewhat sloppy kiss on her cheek. "Goodnight, Tempe, see you in the morning, I love you!" he said quickly, leaping off the bed and running out the door, his cape billowing behind him.

Shaking her head and smiling, she watched him go and, a few minutes later, went back to combing out her hair.

About twenty minutes later, Booth knocked on the door frame. She was sitting up in bed, reading an anthropology journal. "Hey. Parker's asleep."

"Good."

"Want to watch TV?" he asked.

She looked at him in confusion. "No thank you." He should've already known the answer to that – she didn't _own _a TV, so obviously she preferred to read.

He looked confused for a moment, then said, "Okay then. Guess I'll see you in the morning. G'night Bones."

"Night Booth." He turned to go. "Oh, Booth?"

"Yeah?" he poked his head back in.

"Where's _your _cape?" she asked teasingly.

He grinned and said, "Left it at the dry cleaners."

"What a shame."

"Good night," he said, more normal sounding this time.

"Night Booth," she repeated.


	4. Chapter 4

Ch 4

The next morning, she woke with a start as something landed on top of her. Luckily, before she could go into attack mode, she realized it was Parker, who was already in a swimsuit with sharks on it. "Tempe, are you awake?" he asked, climbing up to the pillow next to her and grinning at her hopefully.

"I am now! You're more effective than an alarm clock."

He giggled and said, "Come on, we gotta go to the beach now, remember? You can be the judge when Daddy and me race, and then you can race too if you want to, and then we're gonna build a huge sandcastle…"

"Did you eat breakfast already?"

"Daddy's fixing it. That's how come I was able to get away…. Oops. I mean…"

"Parker, if you just woke up Bones after I told you a thousand times not to…" Booth called, as they heard his voice getting louder and louder as he got closer to them. Seeing Parker looking incredibly guilty and caught, Brennan decided to help him out. "Uh-huh. That's what I thought," Booth concluded as he spotted them.

"He didn't wake me up," Brennan said. Parker's face looked so surprised at the statement that Booth crossed his arms and looked at them both. "I was already awake, just lying here waking up slowly. He just peeked in quietly to see if I was up and I told him it was okay to come in."

"Mmmhmmm," Booth said in disbelief, but if she was sticking to that story there wasn't much he could do about it. "Well, anyway, the pancakes are ready."

"Whoo-hoo!" Parker cheered. "Come on Tempe! Daddy makes the best pancakes in the world!"

"He doesn't walk much," Bones observed after Parker had leapt off her bed and run out of the room again.

She held out a hand to Booth, who pulled her to her feet. "Yeah. Mornings when I have Parker I drink twice as much coffee." She laughed and headed out the door. "He'll wait, Bones, you don't have to come straight down."

"It's okay," she shrugged.

He coughed into his hand as he followed her to the kitchen, realizing that he was really suggesting she might want to change out of her pajamas to make him more comfortable, not her. She was perfectly comfortable in the tank top and shorts. It then occurred to him, somewhat belatedly, that since they were at the beach she would more than likely be wearing a swimsuit at some point. Why that hadn't occurred to him before now he didn't know.

Trying to clear his head, he set about fixing himself a refill and pouring her a cup of coffee. Parker was sitting at the table, up on his knees, eagerly awaiting the pancakes. After a delicious and sticky breakfast, Booth wiped Parker down and went to get changed into his suit while Brennan did the same.

Booth's son had woken, shed his Batman pajamas, and donned his shark bathing suit immediately. Booth had seen fit to pull on a gray undershirt with his sweatpants in the interim period. While Parker gathered towels, sunscreen, and beach toys, Booth put on a swimsuit he hoped would amuse his partner – it was an obscene color of yellow and the pattern was dancing hula girls. He grabbed his sandals and sunglasses and went looking for his son, who was waiting on the patio impatiently. "Daddy, come ON!" he called eagerly.

"Hang on, buddy, you need sunscreen." His son, like himself, tanned easily. However, he still wanted to make sure that the boy didn't burn.

Trying to apply sunscreen to every exposed inch of a wriggling, excited six year old was a little frustrating, to say the least. Parker's eagerness to get to the beach easily made the process take twice as long as it should have.

They were joined halfway through, as Booth rubbed sunscreen into his son's little back, by his partner, who was wearing a somewhat modest one-piece with a sarong over the bottom. The top half of the suit was blue, the bottom black, with a sheer black sarong and sandals. She had a big hat in her hands, her hair twisted up in a beach bun away from her neck, and sunglasses perched on top of her head. She also had a magazine that Booth knew had to be about something scientific tucked under her arm.

She looked great.

And while the suit was modest by swimsuit standards, it still showed off more of her than he usually saw. He busied himself counting the freckles on his son's back as he rubbed in the sunscreen.

Parker grinned at her and said, "I'm almost ready, Tempe!"

"Good," she said. "I'm glad to see you wearing sunscreen. It's very important."

Parker nodded, then, to Booth's horror, said innocently, "Daddy, you better do Tempe next. She needs _lots_ of sunscreen."

He risked glancing at his partner and was pleased to see that she looked mildly embarrassed herself. "Why do you say that, Parker?" Booth asked.

"She's pretty like Snow White," he said matter-of-factly, smiling at her.

"Um, thank you, I think," she said. "And your observation is correct, Parker. I do burn very easily. But I already put on lots of sunscreen everywhere I could reach." She met Booth's eyes and offered, somewhat sheepishly, "I could use help on my back though."

"Get in line," he said lightly.

Luckily, his son was waiting impatiently next to them and giving them the "hurry up" stare the entire time he was putting sunscreen on his partner's back. It removed most of the intimacy of the occasion.

Sunscreen finally applied to all present, Parker called, "Race ya, Dad," and took off towards the beach.

"You cheater!" Booth called, waiting a few extra seconds to give his son a better head start before taking off after him.

Watching them in amusement, Brennan took her time walking down to the beach. The sun was still low in the sky, as Parker had woken them up early. She was down in time to catch the last bit of sunrise, actually. She split her time between the magnificent view of the ocean and shoreline and watching the Booth men.

Booth chased his son at probably half speed, letting the boy think he was going to win, then caught him up at the last minute, swung him up into the air, and tickled him. After a few moments of tickling, Booth let his son go, but Parker still wanted to play. He tried to tackle his dad and Booth, playing along, went down in the sand.

They play-wrestled for a while until Parker squirmed away, shrieking with laughter as he ran back in Brennan's direction.

As he spotted her he yelled, "Save me, Tempe!" and ran behind her, grabbing her waist and peeking out behind her at his dad, who was running towards them.

"Booth, don't you dare," she warned.

But Booth was too caught up in the play with his son to worry about any boundary issues he might be about to break through. She saw that he wasn't slowing down and said, "Um, Parker, I think we'd better run," dropping her things in the sand.

Holding his hand, she ran with Parker down the beach. "We'll never beat him on foot!" Parker squealed. "Let's go in the water, Tempe! He'll never follow us in there!!"

She doubted there was much truth to that statement, but dutifully followed Parker into the water. They ran out to Parker's shoulder depth and turned.

Booth, playing along, was pacing along the waterline, calling, "Come on out, little fishy!"

"Never!" Parker called bravely, jumping in place next to Brennan.

"You won't come out?"

"No! Never!"

"Then I'll just have to come get you!"

Parker squealed as Booth mock-dove into the water, although it was very shallow. He pretended to be trying to swim with his stomach on the sand, Parker giggling at his antics, until a larger wave caught Booth off guard and he got totally doused with salt water.

Coughing, he got to his feet and headed towards them. "All right, now I've got you!"

They started splashing at him, and soon they were having a close-combat water fight. Since they were both trying to keep Parker safe, the adults ended up taking most of the splashes. Parker, finally noting this, scooted around to behind his dad's back while Booth was preoccupied with splashing his partner and being splashed by her.

Seeing his chance, he leapt onto his dad's back with a triumphant crow. "Gotcha, Dad!!!"

His son clinging to his back, Booth jokingly tried to shake Parker loose a couple of times before declaring, "All right, you've got me, but I've got your ally!"

Before she could register what that meant, Booth had grabbed Brennan around the waist from behind. "Booth! Put me down!"

"Hey, don't forget about the monkey on my back!" Booth warned quietly.

She got the hint and stopped struggling to get away quite as hard, not wanting to shake Parker loose. Booth, considering himself quite strong, shifted her to one arm while flipping Parker over with the other.

Parker tucked under one arm and squealing with delight, he grinned and declared, "Winner! Say it!"

"Never!" Parker declared valiantly, kicking and waving his arms.

"Never!" Brennan echoed.

"All right! Have it your way then!" he dumped them both in the water.

His son was a good swimmer, but Booth was still mindful of him, especially in the ocean. Parker popped up immediately, grinning, and splashed his dad in retribution, before jumping at him. Booth let his son "dunk" him, while Brennan watched, treading water nearby in amusement.

"Come on, Tempe, help me!"

She obeyed, jumping on her partner's shoulders and pushing him down. He reached around and grabbed her from behind, turning her sideways with the intention of bringing her down with him. Not being able to see, he grabbed her butt instead of her waist.

"Booth!" she shrieked as he pulled his hand away once he realized where it was, promptly dropping her. She came up spluttering.

"Sorry," he apologized.

She knew it was an accident, of course, but it had just surprised her. Still, they had all been wrestling for so long that it wasn't the first questionable contact between them. It was easier to laugh it off as accidental with Parker shrieking and laughing and now trying to tackle them both, feeling left out.

As his dad started tickling him again, he latched onto Brennan, wrapping his arms around her neck and his legs around her waist. "Save me, Tempe!" he begged around giggles.

"I'll save you, Parker!" she promised dramatically, turning her back to Booth so she was between him and Parker.

She carried him towards the shore, guessing by the way he was still and panting in her arms, that he was getting tired and could use a rest from all the rough play anyway. She certainly could! It wasn't even nine o'clock and she was ready for a nap!

Booth caught the altered tone and followed them ashore, marveling at the fact that his partner was playing so eagerly with Parker, and still carrying him although she was only in knee deep water and he was perfectly capable of walking himself. He watched his son rest his head on her shoulder happily, taking a little break.

His son caught his eye and smirked at him. Booth narrowed his eyes suspiciously at his son.

"That was fun, beating you, Dad!" Parker said as they reached the spot where they'd left their things and Brennan set him down on his feet.

"Oh, you think you won, do you? Well, we'll have a rematch tomorrow and we'll just see what you say then!"

"Okay! Now can we build our sand castle?"

"Sure… let me go get the umbrella and chairs and set everything up first."

"Okay."

Brennan went to help him, but Booth waved her away. "I'll get it."

"Booth, I can carry folding chairs," she stated, crossing her arms automatically and squaring her shoulders at him.

"Yes, I know you can, but people under four feet should not be left alone by the edge of the Atlantic ocean," he said pointedly.

"Oh. Right." She turned to Parker and said, "Come on, let's start your sand castle."

When Booth returned, they all arranged the two lounge chairs and the umbrella. Brennan got comfortable in one of the chairs and started reading her magazine, while Booth went to help Parker with his sandcastle a few feet away.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

After the initial distraction of playing with Parker wore off and the rest of the day wore on, the confusing and frustrating, melancholic feelings began settling back in. there was something new in there too, although she wasn't exactly sure what. Perhaps it was a byproduct of promising Parker she would forgive Booth, and the resulting morning of playing during which she had genuinely forgotten that she was supposed to be unhappy.

Parker interrupted her thoughts, running over to her with a huge grin. "Hi Tempe!"

"Hi, Parker. Your cheeks are getting red." She looked past him for Booth, but he was gone. "Where's your dad?"

"He went to go make lunch. He said we can eat down here so I don't get sand all over the house. I'm s'posed to wait here with you."

"Oh. Okay. Well, come here, I think you need more sunscreen. Your face and shoulders are red." She grabbed a towel and helped him wipe the sand off himself before they put the sunscreen on, then squeezed some into his hands.

He started rubbing it on his arms, chest, stomach, and legs. "Don't look at our sand castle yet, okay, Tempe? It's not done."

"I won't," she promised, turning him by the shoulders so she could put more sunscreen on his back, which was pink. "Are you having a good time?" she asked.

"Yeah, this is the best! I'm glad you came to the beach with us today Tempe. Are you still sad?"

"Only a little," she assured him, turning him back around to face her and dabbing sunscreen on the end of his nose, making him laugh. "And it has nothing to do with you."

"Why were you sad, then? Because I was playing with my daddy and you were by yourself over here?"

"No, sweetie. I want you to have fun with your dad. It makes me happy to watch you playing. I was just… thinking about someone else."

"Who?"

"A very good friend of mine. Zack."

"Dr. Zack who builded my robot???"

"Yes."

"Why does Dr. Zack make you sad?"

"Because he did something very bad. He can't work for me anymore and he… he has to be punished for a long time for what he did, but I was his teacher, so I feel partially responsible for what he did."

"Why?"

"I just do. I don't know. Kind of like how your dad is so worried about you bothering me, because he would feel bad about it by extension, you know?"

"I guess. Like how he gets EXTRA mad if I act up in church?"

"Yes, it's probably exactly like that."

"Oh." Parker nodded solemnly and said, "I don't think it was your fault, Tempe."

"What makes you so sure?" she asked, carefully rubbing sunscreen onto his face.

"Cuz you're the smartest person ever, and you're really nice and pretty. If you were Zack's teacher – well maybe he just didn't wanna learn. Like this mean kid in my class, George…"

Parker kept talking about George, but Brennan only caught the gist of it, too focused on Parker's innocently drawn conclusion about Zack. Perhaps, on some level, he was right.

"You just tell me whenever you're sad about Zack. I'll distract you!" Parker declared firmly.

"You will? That's quite a task. How do you plan to do that?"

He shrugged. "I'll think of something. Watch. Tempe, are you thinking about Zack?"

"Yes," she answered dutifully.

Parker scampered a few feet away and did a clumsy cartwheel in the sand, springing back to his feet with a grin and his arms raised.

She laughed and sat back down in her chair as he ran back over to her. "See?"

"Yes, very impressive. But let's get this sand off you before lunch arrives," she said, wiping his arms and hands off with the edge of her towel.

When she finished, he hugged her round the neck, warm sunscreeny arms that were surprisingly stronger than they looked hugging her tightly. He grinned at her, not saying anything, and sat down sideways across the foot of her lounge chair.

Booth had been standing at the edge of the patio with a cooler full of sandwiches, drinks, fruit, and chips in his hands, watching the entire exchange. He wasn't exactly sure what was going on here – Parker had always been extremely fond of his partner, but he had basically admired her from afar, alternating between clumsy attempts to impress her with his knowledge of things like dinosaurs, to being uncharacteristically shy.

She'd not had any idea, of course, and while she had always been perfectly nice to Parker, he had never really got the feeling that she genuinely enjoyed him the way she seemed to be doing now. Trying not to feel jealous – he wasn't even sure which one he was jealous of – he headed back down to the beach.

Parker greeted him cheerfully enough from his little perch by Brennan's feet, and was reaching for a sandwich even before Booth had set the cooler down, but he thought his partner got significantly _less _relaxed, more tense, when she saw him. Then again, maybe he was being paranoid. After all, it was hard to read her expression through sunglasses. She returned his smile when he handed her a sandwich, at any rate.

"I love the beach," Parker remarked happily once they were all rapidly eating lunch, crunching a potato chip.

"What's your favorite part?" his dad asked.

Parker shrugged. "Everything. Tempe, what's your favorite?"

"I know that one," Booth said with a smile.

"You do?" both asked him in surprise.

"Sure, that's easy. Dolphins. You might see dolphins while you're here."

She was smiling at him for real now, so he was glad.

"I like dolphins, too," Parker said. "And sharks, and whales, and seals… are dolphins your favorite animal in the whole world?"

"Yes, they are."

"In the whole world mine's probably elephants," Parker said. "But that's hard to say. I like lots of animals. Why do you like dolphins, Tempe?"

Booth cleared his throat, but she answered the innocently asked question. "My mom loved dolphins. She was fascinated by them, and she'd tell me about them when I was little. I just always liked them, I guess."

"Do you think we'll see some dolphins this trip?" Parker asked hopefully.

"Maybe. I hope so. Last time I was here, I did see a few."

While Parker and Brennan took turns scanning the water for any signs of dolphins, Booth watched them both. Parker, finished with his lunch, scooted up the chair to lean back against her while they searched for dolphins in comfortable silence. Booth stretched out in his own chair next to them, glancing at his partner every now and then to see if she was getting tired of holding Parker, or getting too warm. The umbrella provided shade, but it was still quite a warm day.

Parker fell asleep, lulled by the sound of the water, his full belly, and the warmth of his father's partner. "Wow, he hardly ever takes a nap anymore," Booth observed.

"I guess you wore him out with all the wrestling earlier. It wore me out too, actually."

"Do you want me to take him inside?"

She frowned initially at the thought, enjoying the innocence he was projecting even in sleep, but then thought about how warm he was getting and realized that it probably would be better for him if he were indoors for his nap, so he could get cooled off. "Okay," she agreed.

Booth picked his sleeping son up carefully, mumbling an apology as his arms brushed against her thighs and chest as he scooped his son up.

She felt strangely lonely in the few minutes it took for Booth to return, and was surprised at the feeling. She had stamped out feelings of loneliness years ago – it had taken a full four years to stamp it out after her parents disappeared, but she had finally managed. She instantly recognized the feeling for what it was, however, when it appeared.

When Booth returned, he noticed the change in her demeanor as well. Choosing to bring the subject up carefully, with enough time to retreat if needed, he sat back down with a sigh. "Parker has the right idea. I'm beat." When she didn't respond, he asked, "How you holding up over there? Parker requires a lot of energy."

"I'm fine. He should have a lot of energy. He's a little boy on vacation."

Booth yawned. "Yeah, but adults take vacations to recoup energy, not have it drained."

"You should rest while he's asleep then," she suggested.

"Well, far be it from me to argue with a genius," he said, easing back down into his chair and stretching out comfortably.

"What – you argue with me all the time, Booth, that's what we do!"

"Oh, you know what I meant," he grumbled good-naturedly.

"Although I don't know how much rest we're going to get in the sun," she observed.

"You want to go inside and cool off?" he asked.

"Nah, I can't really take a nap in the middle of the day unless I'm sick or something. I think I'll go get the sand and salt water off in the outdoor shower and read in the pool or something, that way I don't get too hot."

"Good idea." Booth rolled back out of the chair up to his feet and held out a hand for her. He took her forearm and hauled her to her feet.

She showered off quickly in the outdoor shower, rinsing off all the salt and sand. She stepped out of the way for Booth to have his turn, squeezing the extra water out of her hair, and grabbed her towel. By the time Booth was finished in the shower, she was comfortably floating on a pool raft, reading a book.

"Whatcha readin'?" Booth called as he picked out a chair by the side of the pool.

"Middlemarch."

"Middlemarch? That doesn't sound squinty."

"It's not… it's by George Eliot… she's widely regarded as one of the best writers of…"

"George Eliot was a woman?"

Sighing, she nodded. "Yes. Her real name was Mary Ann Evans. She…"

"Yeah, yeah. I'll google her. So, is it good?"

"Yes, it's one of my all time favorite novels."

"You've read it before?"

"I read it every five years. Since I was eighteen."

"Why? You know what… never mind. It's a Bones thing, I guess, just… enjoy."

"Thank you," she said, surprised.

She went back to reading. Booth dozed off in his chair. She had all-but forgotten he was even still out there with her when, about an hour later, he suddenly appeared out of the water next to her with a lot of splashing and a "Boo!"

She screamed in surprise, hit him in the head with her book, lost her balance, and fell into the water. As her head went under, she felt a hand grab her wrist and take her book from her. She came up spluttering and looked at him sharply, demanding an explanation.

"Sorry, Bones," Booth was apologizing around a huge smile. "I didn't mean to get your book all wet… but you did hit me with it."

She looked at the book with a frown. It hadn't been completely submerged, as she had, but it had been thoroughly splashed more than once. She sighed and said, "I've got another copy of it at home."

"I'll get you another one in town, I promise. If this one doesn't dry out okay…" He looked at it doubtfully and tossed it to the side of the pool, in the sunlight and away from splashes.

"I thought you were sleeping."

"I was," he said. "King of the power naps!" he declared, raising both arms in the air.

She rolled her eyes and attempted to shove him away. It didn't work, but he took it as a challenge. The water fight that ensued was much less controlled than the one in which both had been trying not to hurt the small child involved.

"Okay, okay, okay, stop," Brennan finally insisted, trying to catch her breath. Booth let go of her. She slipped underwater abruptly, not expecting to be dropped. She came back up, spluttering, and looked at him pointedly.

"You said stop. Sorry." Sighing dramatically, he put his hands on her waist again, swiveled around, and hoisted her up to the side of the pool, plopping her down unceremoniously on the edge. "Better?"

"Much. Thank you. As I was trying to say, not all of us had a nap."

"Oh, is that your excuse?"

"It's not an excuse. It's a reason," she insisted.

"Uh-huh."

He had a palm flat on the side of the pool, on either side of her, and thus was very close. He kept brushing against her legs under the water. She was finding it somewhat distracting from their friendly argument, but determined not to back off before he did.

In such close proximity it was impossible not to look at his bare, wet chest and shoulders. Booth was in excellent shape; it was no secret. She often made him uncomfortable by such remarks, and was on the verge of making another one purely for the purpose of trying to make him uncomfortable once again, when her eyes caught sight of the not-too-old bullet wound in his chest.

He had had a dressing over it before when they'd been at the beach. She supposed he must have taken it off when he showered off before, and in all their splashing around in the pool, she hadn't noticed its absence. The wound was healing remarkably well, a thick, unbroken scab covering the worst of the wound still, only slight puckering. He would certainly have a small scar, and there still seemed to be some bruising around the edges of the wound – or perhaps it was irritated from the sand, salt water, and chlorine.

She hadn't seen the wound unbandaged since that day, when she'd held her hands to it for what seemed like forever, trying to keep his blood inside his body where it belonged until the ambulance arrived. She couldn't take her eyes off of it. It was so close to his heart. A little bit lower, a tad bit right… it was probably a good thing Booth quit gambling a long time ago, because he had certainly just used up all his amounted lifetime of luck surviving that shot. Not that she believed in such things, anyway. Although it had worked when they'd gone to Vegas…

Her face must have shown where her thoughts were dwelling, or else he just followed her eye-line and guessed right, because he was bending down and catching her eye with a light smile on his face, but eyes that weren't quite as happy. "Hey. It's okay. It doesn't even hurt anymore." She raised an eyebrow. "Well, much," he admitted.

"You should cover it back up. Sand and salt, not to mention chlorine, can't feel good in there."

"The pool's not bothering it. but I will before I go to the beach again," he promised.

She nodded, but didn't look away. He didn't either. The moment dragged on so long that it became ridiculous. She was sure she was a split second away from laughing and looking away when a loud voice called, "What are you guys _doing?_"

"Parker!" she exclaimed, then realized the relief in her voice was a bit much, and probably hurt Booth's feelings just a little bit.

"Hey, buddy," Booth said, a little forced. "We're just taking a swim. Did you have a nice nap?"

"Yeah. Why'd you go swimming without me? Remember you said you could teach me snorkeling in the pool and then we could go in the ocean after I get good at it?"

"I remember. Okay, go get your snorkel and fins. And your floaties."

Parker ran off towards the house to get his new snorkeling things. Left alone again, Booth and Brennan exchanged quick, nervous looks. "I think I'll go inside for a while, while you teach Parker," Brennan said quickly.

Booth nodded, clearly wanting to say something. He didn't. He watched her gather up all her things and she was just about to head inside when he blurted out, "Are you okay?"

She looked at him and could see that he was very worried. "I'm fine, Booth," she promised. "I just… don't want to get too much sun on our first day here."

"Okay," he said, sounding not quite convinced.

She shifted on her feet for a moment and said, "Maybe, after you and Parker are done swimming, we could all go into the town? I can show you guys around and you can get an idea of the activities that are here that you and Parker might enjoy. We could have dinner there."

He recognized it for the truce offering it was, and said, "That sounds good, Bones. Thanks."

Parker stumbled towards them, snorkel and goggles on his head, an arm floatie in each hand, and already wearing his flippers, which smacked the ground loudly with each clumsy step he took.

Brennan watched him in amusement and said to Booth, "Good luck with the lesson."

"Yeah, looks like I'll need it," Booth agreed, laughing.

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	5. Chapter 5

Author's Note: Thanks for the great reviews everyone. I'm sorry I can't update as fast as I did with the other ones I wrote now that school's back in session. The good news is I have large sections of the rest of the story done already; I just have to go back through and fill in some gaps. I'll post as soon as I can.

Ch 5

"Ooh, Daddy, look, can we do jet skis?" Parker asked excitedly, spotting a place that rented them.

"Sure, bub. Ever been on a jet ski, Bones?" Booth asked.

"Yes. They're fun."

"Okay, Parker, I think we have a good idea of the types of things available," Booth said.

They had seen most of the small town in about an hour of casual strolling, and Booth was getting very hungry.

"We can make a list at dinner," Brennan suggested. She pointed out a little seafood restaurant that had an outdoor eating area overlooking the water. "I went there last time I was here, it's very good."

"Are you sure we're dressed okay for there?" Booth asked, nodding at Parker. He wasn't so much worried about Parker's shorts and sandals as the fact that he was a little boy with a lot of energy. Booth tended to take him to places where there were much louder, much more poorly behaved children around.

"It'll be fine, Booth. Everything is very relaxed here."

"Okay," Booth agreed.

Ten minutes later, they were seated as close to the water as they could be. Brennan was admiring the view of the ocean as the sun started to set. Parker was working his way through the breadsticks on the table that had been brought with their drinks. Booth was staring at his partner.

Until Parker tugged his sleeve urgently. Booth looked at him and laughed, even though he knew it would only encourage him. Parker had broken a breadstick in half and had each half tucked into the corners of his upper lip, so that they hung down like very long fangs. Or tusks, Booth realized, as Parker clapped his hands together and made an attempt at a walrus noise.

The noise drew Brennan's attention too, and she smiled indulgently, but Booth was thinking about things like Rebecca complaining if Parker's table manners had drastically relapsed when he returned him to her in a week. "Parker, come on. Manners."

Shrugging, Parker set the breadsticks on his plate and opened his children's menu. After they ordered, Booth said, "I have a suggestion. Everyone say what they would like to do the most."

Parker was gaping at the ocean. He pointed, saying excitedly, "I wanna do _that!_"

Booth followed his gaze and said, "No way."

Brennan looked at the passing boat, which was pulling a person on a parasail, and smiled. "Booth, it's perfectly safe. It's actually quite fun."

"You've done that before?" Parker asked, looking impressed.

"Yes… although, Parker, it might not be what you're thinking. It doesn't feel like you're going fast at all. It does give you a beautiful view of the ocean and shore, though."

"Surely they don't let six year olds…"

"I'm _almost _seven!" Parker said stubbornly.

"That's not the point."

"Booth, it _is _perfectly safe. And I'm not positive but I think they let children go. Some places let you go with as many as three people at once; we could all be up there at the same time."

He looked back and forth between the two of them and knew he was not going to win this argument. "We'll look into it," he assented.

"Yay!" Parker said happily.

"Okay, that's your number one choice. Bones, what's yours?"

"I'd like to SCUBA dive at some point; maybe if there's a time when you guys want to do something together I could go do that for a day, or even a half day."

"You can SCUBA dive?" Parker asked in awe. "Wow! You DO know everything!"

She laughed. "Not everything, Parker."

The waiter brought their food. Booth let out a very long, "Ni-i-i-ce" as his assortment of fried seafood arrived on what had to be the biggest plate in the restaurant.

"That is extremely unhealthy," Brennan said as her much healthier meal arrived.

"Yeah, I know. But it's a vacation," Booth said, popping a huge piece of shrimp into his mouth. "And it's so-o-o-o good."

"Trade you," Parker offered, holding out a French fry.

Booth smiled and traded with Parker. Brennan was amused at the game; she'd eaten many meals with Parker, but hadn't seen them trade more than the occasional bite. They ended up swapping at least half their meals. Booth kept looking at her as if he knew she was dying to know how and where this game had originated, but he was going to wait until she gave in and asked to answer her.

"Daddy, you didn't pick anything yet," Parker reminded them near the end of the meal.

"Oh yeah. Well, there were a couple of things I was thinking about doing. I thought we could rent jet skis, and I was thinking we might do a fishing thing," he said, looking at his partner pointedly. "But I didn't know how well that idea would… go over."

Parker looked back and forth between the adults. "You don't like fishing, Tempe?" he asked.

"I don't personally find it enjoyable, but I'm not… extremely opposed to other people doing it," she said carefully.

"Yeah?" Booth asked.

She nodded. "Booth, it's your vacation. You should do what you want to do. If you want to go fishing, go fishing."

"But you're not going to come? You wouldn't have to fish, you could just hang out on the boat…"

"Maybe I'll go SCUBA diving while you guys fish," she said. "That is… Parker, I'm assuming you want to go fishing with your dad? We can do something else while he fishes if you'd rather not go."

"Thanks, Tempe, but I want to go fishing with my dad," Parker said, smiling at Booth. Booth looked relieved – he'd actually been worried for a minute there. "But… could we maybe go on a boat together too? Sometime?"

"Sure."

"And I still want to play at the beach a lot," Parker said quickly. "I don't wanna plan _too _much stuff."

"Okay, buddy."

Since Parker was getting plenty of agreement from both adults at the moment, and they were finished with dinner, he grinned optimistically and said, "There's _one _more thing I want to do."

"What?" his dad asked.

"Can we get ice cream before we go home?"

Brennan laughed. Booth said, "Now _that _is a good idea, Parker."

After they paid and left the restaurant, they started walking towards an ice cream place a few blocks away. Whenever they passed a place that offered one of the things they were interested in that was still open, they stopped in and made plans.

By the time they got to the ice cream place, Parker had mentioned about twelve flavors he wanted. It took a long time for him to make up his mind, even though he got two scoops. He finally decided on strawberry and rocky road, and was concentrating fully on eating the ice cream while walking a few feet in front of the two adults.

Brennan had decided that a cup and spoon was much better while walking along a street in warm, humid weather than a cone, and was neatly eating her double chocolate ice cream. Booth had opted for a double cone like his son, with two scoops of cookies 'n cream, and had stuck a large handful of napkins in his pocket for when his son's ability to eat the ice cream inevitably gave way to the rate of melting.

He stopped when they passed a book store. "Hey, wait a second," he called to Parker, holding an arm out in front of Brennan to stop her from walking. "Parker, come on, we're going in here for a minute."

He pulled the door open but Brennan pointed out, "The door says no food or drinks."

"Hmm. I'll just bet there's a strict librarian-type in there prowling around too," Booth said, peering through the windows. "Not the hot kind either. The old, tiny kind. Okay, here, you take this," he said, handing his ice cream to Brennan.

She took it awkwardly, since she was already holding her own cup. "Booth, it's okay, you don't have to get me another book right now," Brennan said, but Booth was already leading Parker over to a tiny wrought-iron table and chair set in front of the bookstore.

"Here, wait here for just a minute, okay, bub, I'll be right back." He helped Parker sit in the chair and handed the napkins to Brennan before hurrying inside the bookstore.

Brennan sat down on the other chair and set her ice cream down, looking at Parker while she picked up her spoon again. Parker had his neck turned nearly sideways in an effort to lick the lower scoop flavor. "You're going to strain your levator scapula if you continue holding your neck at that unnatural angle for an extended period of time," she told him.

He stopped eating his ice cream to give her a wide-eyed look, ice cream outlining his mouth. "What's _that?_"

"A strained neck. A sore neck muscle."

"Oh."

She handed him a napkin. He wiped at his mouth and asked, "Can I try yours?"

She reached over with her own napkin and finished his incomplete attempt to clean himself and said, "Sure."

"Want to try mine?" he offered.

She eyed the ice cream he was holding out towards her hopefully suspiciously. He had licked nearly every angle of it, from the looks of it. Thinking about sharing bacteria and any number of contagions, her first instinct was to politely decline. But, he looked hopeful, and she remembered that there was some sort of food-swapping tradition between Booth and Parker that she still didn't understand.

"Sure. Thanks," she said with a smile, reaching in with her spoon to one of the least-licked looking areas. She tried the ice cream and said, "Thank you, Parker" before handing him the spoon.

He dug in happily to her ice cream, took a big bite, and was eyeing Booth's cone hopefully when someone approached them with a loud shriek.

"Temperance Brennan!!! In front of _our _bookstore! As I live and breathe!!!"

Brennan leaned back in her chair reflexively, but forced a smile, cautiously guarded though it was.

"I'm your biggest fan! Oh my god…" the woman started fumbling in her purse for something.

Parker quickly slid off his seat and came over to Brennan nervously, leaning into her legs while the woman was distracted.

Parker was clearly uneasy. Brennan hauled him onto her lap awkwardly with one arm around his middle, because she was still holding the ice cream in the other hand. "It's okay, Parker," she assured him quietly. "This happens sometimes. Your dad… and my publisher… say it's important not to alienate my fans."

"What does that mean?" Parker asked, but before he could answer, the woman had stopped fumbling and was holding a laundry marker and an envelope in her hand hopefully.

"Dr. Brennan, can you please sign this?"

"Um, sure," she said. The woman was enthusiastic but didn't appear to be a threat of any kind.

"Hold this for me, please," Brennan said, handing Parker Booth's ice cream. Parker took it happily – what little boy would say no to an ice cream cone in both hands? Hands now free, she kept an arm around Parker to keep him in place – and hopefully keep him from getting them both covered in ice cream – and started to sign the envelope. "What's your name?"

"Allison Adams. Dr. Brennan, your last book was your best ever, especially the part where the killer wrapped all of the victims in red tape after they…"

Parker's eyes went wide.

Brennan put the pen down and interrupted. "I'm sure you've noticed that I don't write children's stories, Ms. Adams," she said pointedly.

The woman looked at Parker and nodded, looking rebuked. "I'm sorry, Dr. Brennan."

She nodded and continued signing.

"When's your next book coming out?" the woman asked hopefully.

"Probably late next summer but I'm not in control of the release date; that's up to my publisher." She handed the envelope and pen back to the woman and gave an awkward smile – this was the worst part, in these situations. She hadn't yet mastered ending the encounter without sounding abrupt and offending the person, and most of the time the people asking for her autograph tended to want to linger and ask her questions.

She took Booth's ice cream back from Parker for something to do and took a bite of it absently. "Well…" she started uncomfortably.

Booth came hurrying out of the bookstore. "Just in time before they closed," he declared, waving the book in his hand.

"Good!" Brennan said enthusiastically, setting Parker on his feet and getting to hers. "Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoy the next book," she recited, gesturing with her head for Booth to hurry and grabbing Parker's hand – it was very sticky.

"Sure," the woman said, looking somewhat surprised at Booth's sudden appearance and their quick departure. "I thought she hated children," the woman mused to herself as she watched them go.

Once they were half a block away, Booth snagged his ice cream back and frowned. "Hey, I asked you to _hold _it, not eat half of it! And what happened back there, anyway?"

"You have considerably more than half left, Booth. And she wanted an autograph."

"Oh." Booth had to smile at that – his partner was very uncomfortable when people approached her for an autograph. She was used to the whole book-signing atmosphere by now and handled that fairly well, but when she was randomly approached, she still seemed completely flummoxed. He couldn't help but find it endearing.

"I ate some of your ice cream too, Daddy," Parker chimed in around his own treat.

"And I left mine on the table," Brennan realized in disappointment.

Booth rolled his eyes and offered his cone back to her.

"That's not necessary."

"Come on, we can share. It sets a good example for the child."

She wasn't entirely sure Parker still needed such literal examples, but the ice cream did look good. "Okay," she relented.

"Tempe, you're not supposed to talk to strangers," Parker said as they headed back to their house.

"That's right, buddy," Booth said quickly. "But there's a little bit of an exception to the rule for Bones, bub."

"Why? Because she's famous?"

"Sort of… people read her books, so they feel like they know her, so they feel more comfortable approaching her. It's still good to stay cautious even then, you're right, Parker. But she has to be nice and appreciative to those people who buy and read her books, right?"

"I guess," Parker agreed with a shrug.

His attention back on his ice cream, Brennan asked Booth quietly, "Why did you and Parker trade your dinners?"

"It's this thing," he explained quietly, wrapping an arm around her while they walked so they stayed within whispering distance. "When he was little, about two, Rebecca said he was getting in trouble at Day Care for not sharing. And he wasn't eating vegetables or fruit without a fight. I had him for a day, and at lunch I made a huge deal about my own carrots, so then he wanted _my _carrots. So I offered to trade him one of my carrots, for one of his carrots, and we ate them both at the same time. Get it? Two birds, one stone."

"I don't see what birds and stones have to do with it, but I understand the psychological manipulation tools you utilized…"

"Bones, it's not psychological manipulation like Sweets trying to trick us into revealing deep dark secrets. It's just… parenting. Anyway, it kind of became a thing after that. Now, of course, it's not to try to teach him something, but every once in a while, we just do it for old time's sake, I guess."

"You've formed a tradition around a significant bonding experience you shared," she concluded.

"Yeah. Like I said. It became a thing."

She rolled her eyes at his insistence on repeating the imprecise term and took his ice cream back from him.

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	6. Chapter 6

Ch 6

Booth had ended up carrying Parker halfway back to the beach house, and he was almost asleep by the time they got inside. Booth helped him get ready for bed, cleaning all the ice cream off of him and assisting more than usual because Parker was so tired. "Did you have a good time today, buddy?" he asked as he tucked Parker into bed.

"Mmhmm," Parker replied, smiling sleepily. "I had a lot of fun."

"Good. Sweet dreams, Parker. I love you."

"Love you too, Daddy. Tell Tempe for me," he mumbled as he fell asleep.

Booth watched the little boy sleeping for a few moments and then kissed his head before he left, shutting the door gently.

He peeked into his partner's room because the door was partially open. "Hey, Bones, Parker said to tell you goodnight."

She looked up from the book she was thumbing through, trying to find the part she had been on when Booth had drowned her first copy of the book. "Thank you."

"There's a lot of DVDs in the living room, you want to watch something?" Booth asked.

"No thanks, I'm just going to read for a while."

"Okay." He gave her a funny look – the same one from the night before, she realized – and said, "Uh, goodnight, Bones."

"Goodnight, Booth."

After he left, she thought for a minute. She didn't know what that look meant, or why he kept giving it to her after asking her such obvious questions. Angela would know. She got her cell phone – which she had kept off since they left, because Booth had told her she couldn't even bring it but she wasn't quite ready to be _that _cut off from the lab.

She turned it on and called Angela. After several rings, her friend answered. "Sweetie? What's wrong, it's late and you're supposed to be on vacation."

"I am on vacation, Ange. Um, how is everything there?"

"What do you need?" Angela asked knowingly.

"What makes you think I need something?"

"The tone in your voice when you tried to be polite and normal. I love you even though you're abnormal, Bren, so just spill."

"Okay. Well, last night I was reading and Booth asked if I wanted to watch television. I never watch television at home, so I don't see why he thought I'd prefer that to reading on vacation, but he gave me a strange look when I said no…"

"Define 'strange.'"

"Kind of… confused, a little. And a bit concerned? Maybe a little bit frustrated? I don't know, Ange, that's precisely why I used the term 'strange.'"

"Okay, sorry, sweetie, I'm just trying to paint the mental picture."

"Right. So anyway, he did it again tonight, and when I said no he made the same face."

"I need more context. Where were you both and where was Parker during these exchanges?"

"Parker's asleep. I'm in bed; I was going to read and then go straight to sleep. He was in the doorway. How is this relevant?"

Angela was laughing.

"I don't see the humor of the situation, Angela, it's really more of an anomaly…"

"Bren, sweetie, I love you but _you _are an anomaly. Booth was just trying to spend some time with you, Bren. You know, alone, as in, adult time without Parker?"

"If you're implying Booth was trying to extend a sexual invitation by asking me if I wanted to watch television, then I think you're wrong. I'm fairly certain he doesn't need to obfuscate such invitations when he's interested in a woman, first of all, and second of all…"

"Whoa-ho-ho. Okay, put all the issues with _that _aside for a moment, that wasn't what I meant, Bren. Interesting that that's where _you _went with it, though. I meant adult in the sense of adult conversation without a six-year-old witness and participant."

"Parker's almost seven."

"Hardly the point here. Look, I know Booth is crazy about his kid, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't appreciate some regular adult down-time with you. You know, your normal co-dependent thing the two of you do…"

"Angela," she warned.

"Okay, okay. Look, sweetie. It's simple. If you don't want to watch television, just go out there and sit in the same room with him and read in there instead of in bed while _he _watches TV."

The solution made so much sense and was so simple that she had to think about it for several moments, wondering how she had missed it. "Do you really think that will work?"

"Oh yeah. Have fun, Bren."

"Thanks. Bye, Angela."

"Bye."

Brennan put her phone away and thought for a few minutes and then decided it was worth a try. She got up, grabbed her book, and headed to the living room.

Booth had just settled into the couch comfortably after putting in a DVD. He had a beer on the end table next to him and was just going to try to relax and enjoy a movie before bed. He was more than a little surprised when his partner joined him, carrying her book, wearing another camisole and very short women's boxer shorts set. Wondering how many of those she had brought and how many of them he would end up seeing, he watched her curiously as she turned on the lamp at the other end of the couch and sat down, pulling her legs up beside her on the couch.

She finally looked at him and looked away furtively, surprising him. "I thought I'd read out here for a while," she said in affected casualness. "Is that okay?"

"Sure, Bones."

Smiling to himself, he picked up the remote and pressed Play.

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"How are you still awake?" Booth asked with a groan as he woke up when the credits began playing on his movie – he'd dozed off about halfway through. Brennan, on the other hand, was still reading a book she'd already read several times in her life, apparently, with great attention.

She jumped a little when he spoke and looked at him. "Is that an actual question? I'm awake because I'm not asleep."

He yawned and groaned all at the same time; it was a weird sound. "If it's _that _good, I want to read it when you're done."

"Sure, Booth. If you're going to sleep, I think I'll work on my own book for a while now."

He got to his feet. "It's a vacation, Bones. You've got to relax at some point." He ruffled her hair as he walked past her, making the suggestion sound less critical.

"Relaxing does not exclusively mean sleeping, Booth," she pointed out.

"Uh-huh. Good night, Bones."

"Good night, Booth. See you in the morning."

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Brennan was stuck. She'd been rereading the same sentence for at least ten minutes. She'd deleted it and rewritten it word for word twice already. Her fingers hovered over the delete key for the third time, when Parker stumbled sleepily into the dining room where she was working, his hair sticking out everywhere, rubbing an eye sleepily. He was wearing baseball pajamas.

"Parker, what's wrong?" she asked.

"I had a bad dream," he said, climbing into her lap as he spoke. She helped him settle into her, not quite sure what to do now. She hadn't thought of anything to say but he started talking anyway. "I went to the potty when I woke up and I saw the light on out here so I came to you instead of my dad. He's asleep still."

"Oh. Okay. Well, would you like me to tuck you back into bed?" she asked. He shook his head firmly and pressed his cheek into her chest. "Okay. Well, would you like to talk about your dream? It's supposed to be therapeutic."

"What?"

"It's supposed to help," she explained gently.

"I dreamed the bunk beds broke when I was asleep and they squashed me."

"Oh. Well, you know that won't actually happen, right? It's a very sturdily constructed bed and I'm sure it meets all the safety standards for its class…"

"Huh?"

"It's safe," she repeated.

"It could squash me," Parker insisted.

"Well, then maybe you could sleep on the top bunk."

"Then I might fall, or if it breaks I would fall really far!"

Thinking that it probably wouldn't do any good to point out that the beds were no more likely to break while he was sound asleep in them than during the day, when he had been climbing and jumping all over them, she sighed and said, "Parker, would you like me to come examine the beds for you?"

He nodded. She took him by the hand, led him back to his bedroom, and turned on the lamp near his bed. She made a big show of testing the bed at all the joints and everything. "There, see? It's perfectly safe."

He shook his head firmly and said, "It's safe _now._"

Realizing that she wasn't going to be able to appeal to Parker's rationality, she tried to think of another way to solve the problem. "What if I stayed in here with you tonight? Would you feel safer then?"

"But what if you're on the bottom bunk and I'm on the top one and it breaks and I _squash _you? Or the other way around!"

She sighed. "Well, then, Parker, I guess…"

"Can I sleep in your room? Please?" he added with a hopeful smile.

"Sure. But the problem with that is that I'm still working on my book. Will you be comfortable in there alone?"

"No," he admitted.

"Okay. How about this?" she suggested, grabbing the edge of the bottom bunk mattress. She slid the mattress off the bunk and onto the floor, well away from the bed. She then readjusted the covers and put his pillow in place. "Is this better?"

He nodded and jumped onto the bed happily, scrambling under the covers. "Thanks, Tempe!"

"You're welcome."

He held out his arms for her. Realizing that he wanted a hug, she sat down on the mattress and hugged him. He latched onto her tightly, and she realized he was still scared. Maybe it wasn't just the beds. Maybe he was a bit uncomfortable sleeping in a strange room. The first night he had been so exhausted he probably hadn't noticed.

"What will make you feel better, Parker?"

"Will you sing me a song?" he asked innocently, his voice full of hope.

"Anything but that," she said under her breath.

"What?" Parker asked.

"Nothing. Um, look, Parker," she tried to explain. But how could she explain to a little boy that the last time she had sung a song, it had been at his father's request? And then he had been shot in the middle of it. If she hadn't been up there parading around like a fool, they would have been more aware of their surroundings. Booth would have noticed Pam entering…

"Tempe?" Parker prompted.

"Sorry," she said, wiping her eyes. "I'm just… a little distracted. Parker, you don't want to hear me sing. I'm not very good and I don't know many songs."

"Please?" Parker pleaded.

He used his eyes to even greater effect than his father, which was saying something. And why should Parker be punished for her own actions and shortcomings? She sighed and nodded. "I… I don't know what to sing," she admitted after a few moments.

"Do you know the mockingbird song?" Parker asked hopefully.

"No, I don't think so," she said. "But um, here's one, I think I can remember all the words. My mom used to sing it to me, sometimes."

"What's it called?"

"I Don't Want to Live on the Moon."

He laughed sleepily and waited for her to start singing. Feeling nervous and scared at first, she started singing, quiet and wobbly. As Parker responded to the words and snuggled into her more, she felt better and took a deep breath, sounding much more like herself when she continued.

"Don't cry, Tempe," Parker said quietly as she finished singing. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and took a deep breath. "You sing pretty, Tempe. Thank you for making me feel better."

"You're welcome, Parker."

"Did the song make you sad because you miss your mom?"

"A little," she admitted. "A lot, maybe. I don't know. I just… was thinking about the last time I got a singing request from a Booth."

Parker thought for a minute and said, "My dad?"

"Yeah. We were at a karaoke place with our friends. Do you know what that is?"

"Nope."

"It's a place where people go to sing on a little stage, with a microphone and everything."

"Oh. That sounds fun! Can I go next time?"

"I don't think we'll ever go back there, Parker," she said quietly, wiping her eyes again.

"Why not?"

"Because, when we were there, your dad made me get up and sing a song. And then halfway through the song… the woman came in, with the gun…" she trailed off, wiping her eyes, and felt little arms snake around her neck.

"Then my daddy got shot," Parker finished with a sniffle himself. She nodded, hugging him to her tightly. "So now it's scary to sing. Like how I was scared of Gameboy for a while because my mom used it to distract me at the dentist and then I had to get a shot in my mouth! I'm sorry, Tempe, I didn't know that happened when I asked you to sing me a song."

"I know, sweetie. It's not your fault." He stayed perfectly still, cuddled into her, while she cried a little bit more, but mostly just sat, thinking, and being gradually comforted by his innocent presence.

Eventually, she realized he had fallen asleep. She started to contemplate how to lay him back down on his bed without waking him, and hadn't figured it out yet when Booth peeked into the room.

"Bones? What are you doing? And why is Parker's bed on the floor?" he whispered, coming into the room.

"He had a bad dream," Brennan explained quietly, brushing Parker's hair out of his face. "He saw the light on in the dining room and came to me instead of waking you up. He told me… hang on. Can you help me put him down first, so we can talk without whispering?"

"Sure. Here, there's a trick to it…" he helped her get Parker back under the covers and all tucked in, flipped the lamp off, and helped her up.

They went out into the hallway, where Brennan brushed her hair back behind her ears. "He was having bad dreams about his bunk beds, and he didn't believe me when I showed him they were sturdy and structurally sound, so I pulled the mattress away from the frame for him. It was all I could think of."

"Good idea," Booth said. He looked at her carefully and asked, "Anything else wrong?"

She glanced at the spot on his chest where his wound was and shook her head quickly. "No. nothing else. Goodnight, Booth, see you in the morning."

She was halfway down the hallway before he had time to think of a reply.

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	7. Chapter 7

Author's Note: A running thing in this story is that Brennan needs to talk to Booth, but doesn't want to yet. That being said, I didn't want to leave the story at the ending of the last chapter for a few days while I work on the next part. So, here's another chapter. It's shorter than most of the others but I like this stopping point better. I will continue working on the story as fast as I can. Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to review.

Ch 7

"NOW can I wake Tempe up, Dad?" Parker asked for the thousandth time the next morning.

"Not yet. I said when breakfast was completely ready, you could. Now, what are we putting in the pancakes, blueberries or chocolate chips?"

"BOTH!" Parker declared.

"Both? Okay, but we're doing half of one, half of the other, not all mixed up together," Booth said firmly. He had learned _that _lesson the hard way.

"Can I stir?"

"Of course…" Booth took advantage of the fact that his son was busy helping him make breakfast to talk to him a bit. "So, listen, Buddy, I heard you had a bad dream last night. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, Tempe fixed it," Parker said, furrowing his brow in concentration as he stirred the batter.

"How?" Booth asked.

"She put my bed on the floor and stayed with me till I was sleepy. And she sang me a song."

"She did?" Booth asked, surprised. "Did you ask her to do that?"

"Yeah… but I wish I hadn't."

"Why?"

"It made her sad. Partly because it was something her mom used to sing to her, and partly because last time she sang was when the crazy lady shot you."

"Oh." That explained his partner's strange behavior in the hallway, at least. "She… she told you all that?"

"Tempe doesn't lie, Daddy," Parker said plainly.

"No, she doesn't," Booth agreed.

"I love her," Parker continued simply. "Are you going to marry her?"

Booth dropped the spoon into the large bowl of batter he was mixing, swore under his breath, and fished it out with a fork. As he cleaned it off, he said, "Why would you ask that, buddy?"

Parker shrugged. "That's what grown-ups do, right? When they love each other. You love Tempe, don't you, Dad?"

"Well… there are all different kinds of love, Parker. I mean, you love your mom, but you wouldn't want to marry her, would you? And you love me, but not the same way you love pizza, right?"

"And you love mom because she gave you me, but not the same way as you love a girlfriend or a wife?"

"Exactly."

"So, do you love Tempe like you love mommy, or like you love me, or like a wife, or like you love pizza, or what?" Parker asked bluntly.

"Uh…" Booth started.

"Are you not sure?" Parker asked.

It seemed the easiest way out of the conversation, so Booth agreed eagerly. "Yes! How did you know?"

"Cuz I love her too, but I don't know yet either. Kind of like a second mommy, but if you don't want to marry her, maybe I'll do it."

Booth tried very hard not to look too amused at his son's matter-of-fact assertion, and to let the matter drop for now. If it would get Parker onto another topic… he'd let just about anything drop at the moment. There was just one more thing he needed to make sure of…

"You didn't talk to Bones about this stuff too, did you?"

"No. Well, she loves me. She told me so. I didn't ask her if she loves you though. Why? Do you want me to ask her for you?"

"NO!" Booth said loudly.

Parker looked taken aback. Booth cleared his throat quickly and said, "Why don't you set the table? Then after you're done, you can go wake up Bones. NICELY."

Since that was exactly what he'd been asking to do for over an hour now, he hurriedly complied, setting the table quickly and running to her bedroom.

He tiptoed inside and over to the side of the bed. She was sleeping on her side, under the covers except for the top half of her head. He peered at her carefully and tried to decide what exactly his dad meant by wake her up 'nicely.' Deciding that meant 'quietly,' he went around to the other side of the bed and climbed on as stealthily as possible, inching closer to her carefully, sliding along the top of the covers on his knees and shins.

When his knees brushed her side, he leaned over her and touched her shoulder. She jumped awake, with a start, which startled Parker in turn so that he leaned back quickly, putting his hands down on either side of himself on the mattress to stop himself from falling backwards.

They both stared at each other, recovering from the surprise. Parker looked so scared and surprised that Brennan finally laughed. Parker laughed in relief and said, "Good morning, Tempe."

"Good morning, Parker."

"Sorry. Daddy said wake you nicely. I don't think I did it right."

"That's okay. I was having a… an unpleasant dream. I'm glad you stopped it."

"Like you did for me, last night," he smiled.

"Exactly. Um, Parker? What is that on the front of your pajamas?"

He looked down at himself and said, "Flour. Daddy's making pancakes. I helped. You can pick between chocolate chip, or blueberry. Or you can have some of both!"

"That sounds interesting. Incidentally, Parker, it doesn't matter when you're on a soft surface like a mattress, but in the future, you really shouldn't put your hands down like that when you fall."

"Why?"

"It's the most common way to sustain a distal radius fracture or a…"

"A what?" he interrupted, his nose wrinkled.

"You could break your wrist," she translated.

"How?"

"When people find themselves falling, the natural instinct is to try to brace yourself for the fall, by putting your hands down, exactly like you just did. But your wrist is far more vulnerable to injury than most of the other parts of your body you'd likely land on, which can handle the force of impact much better…" he was starting to look confused again, so she translated again. "It's better to fall on your bum than your hands."

He giggled at that. "You said 'bum.'"

Rolling her eyes, she got out of bed. "Well, you weren't understanding the actual terms I was using so I had to use words that you would understand. Do you understand the concept, at least?"

"Yup. I will try not to fall on my hands anymore, Tempe," he promised, climbing to his feet on the edge of the bed. "Can we go have pancakes now?"

"Yes. You go ahead; I'll meet you in there."

He vaulted off the bed yelling, "Pancakes!!!!" and ran off.

She headed for the bathroom, marveling at the way his body stored and used energy so much more efficiently than her own larger one.

Both Parker and Booth were waiting at the table for her to start breakfast.

She smiled at both of them as she sat down at the vacant place setting, ruffling Parker's hair as she walked past him. "Good morning, Booth."

"Morning, Bones. Sleep well?" he asked, nudging a cup of coffee towards her knowingly.

She took it gratefully, but still felt the need to point out, "I may have woken up later than you, Booth, but I also went to sleep much later. You still probably got more collective hours of sleep than me."

"Hey, not my fault if you're some kind of vampire," he said with a shrug. "Us humans like to sleep at night."

Parker was giggling. "Daddy, Tempe's not a vampire. Vampires are mean!"

"Now, now, Parker, let's not generalize. You never know, there might be nice vampires out there. We don't want to stereotype, do we?" Booth asked.

Parker turned to Brennan. "Tempe, do _you_ think there are good vampires?"

"I don't believe vampires exist at all, Parker, because they don't."

Parker looked disappointed. Booth was giving her a 'come on, play along' look, so she added somewhat reluctantly, "But I suppose if they did, it would not be logical to assume that every vampire was bad."

"Oh. Okay, then," Parker agreed with a shrug, digging into his breakfast. His interest in the morality of hypothetical vampires was quickly superseded by chocolate chip pancakes.

Everyone busied themselves eating for a few minutes before Booth spoke again. "I was thinking we could do wave runners today; the guy at that place said we didn't need a reservation, and when we're in town we can schedule the fishing trip."

Everyone else agreed, so after breakfast was over Parker ran off immediately to put on his swimsuit, although the adults didn't see the need to rush quite so much, and _did _see the need for at least one more cup of coffee apiece.

Booth threw everything in the dishwasher quickly while Brennan made more coffee. Before he had finished wiping the syrup off the table around his son's placemat, she had poured them both coffee but taken them outside to the little table by the pool.

He finished cleaning up and followed her outside, sitting down by his coffee cup and looking at her cautiously. She was staring out at the ocean, but she looked… not exactly pensive, but definitely thoughtful. "You okay?" he asked after a few minutes. "If you need a break from Parker, I can take him out for the day."

"Hmm?" she turned to him looking puzzled and then said, "No, Parker's fine, Booth. He's not bothering me at all. Actually, I think he might be a better psychologist than Sweets."

Booth laughed at that assessment. An hour with Parker certainly did leave him much happier than an hour with Sweets.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you, when I was talking to Parker the other night, he referred to Sweets as a 'teenage FBI dude,'" she told him, smiling.

Booth laughed at that. "I'll have to ask Parker if I can use that next time we have to see Sweets."

After a few more minutes, he tried cautiously, "Parker told me how you helped him with his nightmare last night… do you want to talk about it?"

"No," she answered automatically. As she looked at Booth when he didn't respond, she realized she'd been too abrupt and explained, "I'm fine right now, Booth. Really. I'd rather not go back into all of that at the beginning of the day. Let's just enjoy the wave runners and everything; I don't want to be thinking about that today."

"Okay," he agreed. He certainly didn't want to ruin her day, but he had really hoped they would have time on this trip to talk about enough things so that when they got back to DC, they were really "back." So far, she'd had plenty of time to talk to Parker, but didn't seem very interested in talking to him.

He wondered if it was because she was still upset with him about not telling her he was dead. She'd said she was over it, but he had to wonder. Maybe she was still trying to get over it internally, so she wanted to avoid talking about it until she had worked through the issue all scientifically and rationally. He usually tried to give her all the time she needed to process stuff like this on her own, but every now and then he had to kind of give her a little push. The problem was distinguishing between when the push was genuinely needed to help her, or when it was just what _he _needed.

He hadn't figured out which situation this one currently was when Parker came running out in his swimsuit and sandals, stopping between them with his hands on his hips. "You guys aren't even getting dressed yet? Come on, what if they run out of wave runners because we get there late?"

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	8. Chapter 8

Ch 8

Parker's dire predictions proved untrue. The rental place was not out of wave runners, so an hour later, all three of them set out on wave runners – Parker safely on the seat in front of his dad, holding onto the handles but not steering. They all had life jackets on, of course, and Booth was trying to keep up with Brennan while not driving too fast or at too sharp angles that might send Parker into the water.

Parker kept yelling for his dad to go faster, and gradually Booth complied, although he felt he was still driving much more cautiously than his partner, who was zipping around happily, crossing a safe distance in front of their vehicle frequently. Parker waved at her every time.

They were all having a great time on the wave runners, but eventually it occurred to Brennan that it would be nice to offer to take Parker for a while, so Booth could move with the freedom she'd been doing, without worrying about Parker flying off. She pulled up beside them and called, "Stop for a minute!"

Both idling side by side, she said, "Booth, I can take Parker for a while if you want."

"Yeah!" Parker said enthusiastically, assuming that meant he was going to be flying around like she was.

Booth looked mildly concerned that that was what his partner was thinking as well, but she gave him a look that plainly said otherwise, so he nodded. "Sure, thanks, Bones. Parker, be good, okay?"

Parker nodded and eagerly stood up. Brennan reached out and grabbed his arm to help him balance as he climbed into her vehicle and sat down. After Parker was seated, Booth took off. They watched him for a few seconds, still idling, before Parker said, "Come on, let's catch him!"

She only went a hair faster with Parker on board than Booth had done, but Parker seemed to think they were going all out, perhaps because he'd seen her driving from a different perspective before. Whatever the reason, he didn't complain, and was laughing and yelling with delight.

"Look at Daddy!" Parker yelled over the noise of the water and wave runner, pointing.

Brennan looked and groaned. "Booth, that's not going to…"

Booth was cutting over a wake left by a large deep sea fishing boat at top speed, standing up so he didn't get jostled unpleasantly when his body continued to go in its old trajectory, while the wave runner went exactly the direction Booth had turned it.

"… work," Brennan finished to herself, watching her partner sail at least ten feet in the air before smacking against the water.

He had a life jacket on, of course, and she had certainly seen him take more damage than that, but she hurried towards him nonetheless.

Parker wanted to be impressed by the scope of the fall, but wasn't about to say anything until he saw that his dad was physically okay.

"Daddy?" he yelled, as soon as they were within earshot.

Booth waved to them, and as they got closer they could see he was laughing. "Dad, that was awesome!" Parker said as they idled close to him.

"Thanks, buddy," he said.

"Are you all right?" Brennan asked, grabbing his arm as he climbed onto the wave runner behind her.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Would've been one heck of a belly flop if I didn't have this life jacket on though," he said.

"I don't know what that means."

Despite assuring them that he was fine, she couldn't help but notice that he was holding onto her waist very securely to keep from falling off again as she took him back over to his own wave runner.

Parker, unsurprisingly, went back with his dad again, hoping to be thrown off. It didn't happen, despite the fact that Booth could tell his son was no longer trying very hard to stay _on _the wave runner.

Parker was happy but a little disappointed when they returned the wave runners, claiming he could have stayed out there all day. "I think you would've gotten hungry at some point, bub," Booth pointed out, poking him in the stomach.

"Yeah. I AM hungry!"

"Me too," Brennan contributed as she pulled her shorts on over her swimsuit.

They ate lunch at an outdoor restaurant on the beach and then went to arrange Booth's fishing trip. After that, Brennan said she wanted to rent a two-person kayak for the week when they spotted a place that would deliver it to the house they were staying at and pick it up when they were done.

They walked back to the house. Parker wanted to go play on the beach, and although the adults would have preferred at least a half an hour indoors to rest a bit first, they both went outside with him. Brennan got comfortable under the large beach umbrella, seated in her chair with the book she was reading, but Parker wanted Booth to throw the Frisbee he'd brought with him.

Booth dutifully got up to play with his son, looking somewhat enviously at the empty chair next to his partner.

Parker ran after every Frisbee as enthusiastically as a Labrador, and it was contagious. Tired though he was, Booth always made it a policy never to indicate to his son that there might possibly be something he'd rather be doing at the moment than playing with him. He felt this was especially important since he didn't get to see Parker every day.

When Parker got tired of the Frisbee, they made their way back over to Brennan and their chairs and other things. Booth collapsed into the chair next to her with a groan. Parker started digging through the bag of beach toys.

"What are you looking for?" Brennan asked him.

"Found it! My shovel," Parker said, waving his shovel in the air. "I'm going to dig a hole!"

Brennan stared at him like she was concerned he might have heat stroke. "Why?" she had to ask.

He stared back at her as though she was equally dense. "Because," he finally responded with a shrug, hurrying off to the sand near the waterline, about fifteen feet away. He started digging eagerly in the sand that was wet from when the tide had been higher, but now no longer got routinely wet.

"Booth?" Brennan asked.

He was laughing to himself at their exchange. "I dunno, Bones. Kids like to dig giant holes at the beach. I did when I was a kid. I don't know why. It's just fun."

"If you say so," she said with a shrug.

"What's your book about?" he asked after a few minutes.

"Everything."

He gave her a look.

"Not literally everything. But this novel encapsulates every major genre and theme of fictional writing of its time and place. It's remarkably crafted." After a moment though, remembering what Angela had said about 'adult conversation,' she closed the book.

He took that as an invitation to keep talking, and did. He didn't dare touch on any of the important subjects yet, carefully avoiding bringing up Zack or anything Zack-related. Ditto anything shot-in-the-chest related.

He told her about a trip to the beach he'd taken when he was a child; his grandparents had taken his brother and him to the beach in Massachussetts for a couple of weeks one summer. The beach was rocky and not much like this one, but it had been fun. She told him about trips to the beach with her mother, who would have been happy to live on the beach forever and who always took them to the beach whenever there was one within a hundred miles.

He was very pleased with the way the conversation flowed, just like any other time they might be talking about something non-work-related, at a restaurant or at her apartment, on a stakeout or waiting in Sweets's office. He would have bet anything that she was completely back to normal, if he hadn't noticed her eyes shifting to his bandaged bullet wound whenever the conversation paused or she thought he wasn't watching her.

They talked for so long that by the time Parker came over and interrupted them, dragging them out of their chairs to come admire the hole he had dug, they were both astonished at how large it was. He jumped inside and his head was eye-level with their shins, and there was room for at least two other Parker-sized people inside. They admired the hole, which was really more of a pit, until Parker was grinning proudly.

"That was hard work; I'm tired," Parker admitted as his dad pulled him out of the hole.

"You want to go inside and lie down, buddy?" Booth asked.

"Well…" Parker hesitated.

"How about you lie down on the couch and watch a movie?" Booth suggested. "You don't have to take a nap."

"Okay," Parker agreed.

"Good. Go shower off in the outdoor shower, and get _all _that sand off before you go inside," Booth said, pointing him towards the shower.

Once Parker was out of earshot, he turned to his partner. "He'll be asleep fifteen minutes into the movie, at most. I'll go get him set up."

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When Booth headed down to the beach again, after watching a Disney movie with Parker for about ten minutes, until Parker was sound asleep on the couch, he stopped halfway towards their things and watched his partner in amusement.

She was trying to put sunscreen on her own back, arms reaching around awkwardly, elbows pointed at unlikely angles, sunscreen smeared in random streaks across and down her back, but completely rubbed in nowhere.

"Want a hand?" he offered, laughing, as he joined her.

"Yes, please!" she answered gratefully. Instead of just scooting up a bit on her lounge chair so he could reach her back, she stretched out on her stomach instead, head at the foot of the chair.

Booth rolled his eyes. She was so oblivious sometimes…

He sat down on the edge of the chair next to her waist so that he wouldn't be tempted to continue studying her ass, and tried to pretend that rubbing the sunscreen into her back was no different from rubbing it into Parker's.

Without Parker there, as he had been every other time he'd had to do this so far this trip, it wasn't easy. The problem was complicated by the fact that in her attempts to apply the sunscreen herself, she'd gotten a lot of it on her back, and it was going to take a very long time to rub it all in.

He tried to rub the sunscreen in with just his fingertips, but she started squirming at the light touch. "Booth, you're tickling me!"

He chuckled at that. "Sorry, I didn't realize you were so sensitive." He pressed down harder, rubbing the sunscreen in with his whole hands firmly. She went still almost immediately and this time his attention was grabbed by her neck.

"Jeez, Bones," he said, curling his hand around the back of her neck gently.

"What?"

"What do you mean, what? Isn't your neck killing you?"

"No, not really, why?"

"It's so tight… are you _always _this tense?" he asked, rubbing a spot next to her spine with his thumb experimentally.

"I don't know, I guess, if my neck feels abnormal to you, because it doesn't feel that unusual to me…"

"This isn't normal, Bones." He started rubbing her neck and shoulders, more concerned with how painful the muscles there felt to him than how uncomfortable he had been with the fact that she was more than halfway naked and he was touching her.

All was going fairly well for about ten minutes, until he dug into a particularly knotted muscle and she let out a relieved, grateful sounding groan.

Very glad that she couldn't see how his cheeks had reddened at the sound, as he really didn't want her bringing up his Catholic upbringing or anything with the word 'puritanical' in it at the moment, he devoted as much of his attention as he could to replaying the last Capital's game in his head while he finished the impromptu massage.

By the time he had loosened every muscle in her neck, shoulders, and back, he was pretty sure she was almost asleep. He, on the other hand, was not. He stopped, a hand flat on the middle of her back, and leaned over and around her to try to see her face. Her eyes were closed, but she opened them when she felt him looking at her.

He gave her a hopeful half-smile. "Better?"

"Much better. Thank you, Booth."

"Sure. No problem. Uh, listen, I'm gonna go for a run. Parker might wake up soon though; is that okay?"

"Of course. Do you want me to go inside with him?"

"No, he'll come out here to look for you if you want to stay out here. Thanks, Bones."

Before she could sit up and thank him again, he was jogging down the beach towards the shoreline.

She watched him running down the beach, increasing his speed the further away he got, and sighed. The massage had felt wonderful. She really hadn't realized how tense those muscles were until he had started rubbing them. And as she'd felt herself relaxing, she'd also felt the growing desire to talk to him. So much had happened recently… the vacation was doing its job in many ways; they were having fun together, they were having a great time with Parker, she had been surprised at how much talking to Parker, and explaining things in a way he could understand, was helping her in turn to understand the reasons behind her own feelings.

But they hadn't really been talking to each other.

Some of that was lack of opportunity, she knew. So, since Parker was napping, she had decided to try to really talk to Booth after the massage, but as soon as he finished rubbing her back, he had jumped up and run off. What exactly did that mean?

She sighed. She probably needed to talk to Angela again. But first though, before a conversation with Angela could tense her up again, she was going to follow Parker's example and take a rare, much-needed nap.

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	9. Chapter 9

Author's Note: Here is a long one because it will probably be a couple of days before I can post more. Thank you for continuing to read, and I hope you continue to like it.

Ch 9

Brennan woke up, feeling a shadow over her face. She propped herself up and smiled. Parker was standing in front of her, rubbing his eye sleepily with his fist. "I didn't make any noise," he said a little defensively.

"I know, sweetie. Did you have a nice nap?" she asked, sitting up.

"Yeah. Did you?"

"I did," she said, surprised still at the fact that she'd just successfully taken a nap in the middle of the day.

Parker, still sleepy, followed her as she sat back in her chair properly and sat down next to her, pressed into her side. She wrapped an arm around him to help keep him on the chair and keep his neck at a comfortable angle. "Where's my dad?" Parker asked.

"I'm not sure. He went for a run before I fell asleep. If he's not in the house, I suppose he might still be running."

"Oh."

They were quiet for a few minutes, both still a little drowsy. After a while, Parker asked, "Tempe?"

"Yes, Parker?"

"What do you know about dolphins?"

She looked down at the top of his head in surprise. "You want to learn about dolphins?"

"Yes. I already know they're mammals, not fish. That means they breathe air, and they don't lay eggs, they have live babies."

"Yes, it does mean those things. Well, with the exception of the five species of monotremes, which do lay eggs but are still mammals. It also means several other things. To be classified as a mammal, an animal has to have several common characteristics. You just named the two most obvious ones. Some others are producing milk to feed their young, which is actually where the term 'mammal' comes from, having hair or fur…"

"Dolphins have fur?"

"The babies are born with tiny hairs, on the snout or nose-like area especially prominent around the chin area. They fall out early in life. Mammals are also what's commonly called 'warm blooded.' They have three special, tiny bones in their middle ear, which are used for hearing of course, they have sweat glands, and most have specialized teeth. They also have a neocortex region in the brain."

"A what?"

"It regulates the endothermic and circulatory system, among other things. It's basically involved in higher functions like sensory perception, which means how you receive information from your environment like through sight, sound, taste, feeling, and smell. It generates motor commands, spatial reasoning, conscious thought, and language in humans…"

Parker thought for a minute and said, "That's int'resting about the brain and all, Tempe, but isn't that for ALL mammals? Can you please tell me about dolphins pacifically?"

"Pacifically? You want to know about the species that typically are found in pacific waters?" she asked, a bit confused.

He thought for a minute and attempted to explain, "No, I mean, pacifically, like the opposite of 'general.'"

"Oh! _Specifically." _

"Yeah. That's what I meant."

"Okay. Perhaps a more effective way of pursuing this conversation would be if you ask me questions you have about dolphins and then I'll try to answer them."

"Okay," he agreed. He thought for a minute and asked, "How do they jump so high and do all those awesome flips and leaps and stuff?"

She smiled. "Good question, Parker. And it actually has a very complex answer, so let me know if I need to explain differently. First, think about what a dolphin's body looks like. The streamlined, fusiform body is adapted for fast swimming. The fluke, the tail fin, is shaped the way it is to aid in propulsion. Because they're mammals, the skeleton structure is sturdy enough to support a muscular system capable of great strength and force. The dolphin can generate enough propulsion to leap out of the water…"

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"Wow! I didn't know that!" Parker exclaimed, impressed, not for the first time in the past thirty minutes.

Brennan was impressed with him as well. He had asked question after question, always wanting her to go into more detail about the dolphin's cultural habits, social structure, intelligence level, skeletal structure, the different species… Parker definitely had not inherited his father's alleged distaste for scientific explanation.

"Any more questions?" she asked.

"Um, one," Parker said, suddenly looking a little shy.

"What is it?" she prompted.

"Um… how do you tell the difference between a boy dolphin and a girl dolphin because they're naked and they all look the same to me," Parker said, very quickly and all in one breath.

She smiled, and was debating in how much detail it would be appropriate to answer him, when they saw Booth approaching. Either he had gone swimming, or he was completely drenched in sweat. As he jogged towards them, Parker waved and called, "Hi, Daddy!"

"Hey, buddy!" Booth called back. "I'll be there in a second, I'm just going to rinse off… Aiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeee!" Booth let out an uncharacteristically high-pitched noise as he seemingly sunk completely into the water at what should have been just past the waterline.

Brennan sat up straight in alarm, and then connected the dots. "Parker, where exactly was that hole you dug?"

Booth got his feet under him and stood up, still up to his waist in water. He had his hands on his hips and was trying to look annoyed as his partner and son came over to him, both laughing. "Uh-huh, very funny," he said, pretending to be grumpy.

He didn't mind flying off a jet ski to amuse Parker, or even falling into a hole now-filled with water and hidden because the tide was coming in, to amuse Parker, but he definitely did not want this entire vacation to consist of him making a fool of himself in front of his partner. She had the look on her face, when they reached him, that she had had the time she'd called him a 'lummox.'

"Are you okay?" she asked, trying not to look amused as she offered him a hand up.

He took her hand and pulled her down into the hole with him.

She shrieked as she fell against him, but managed not to go completely under water. "Very mature, Booth," she said dryly, hitting his arm playfully.

"Vacations are not about being mature," he informed her. "They're about having fun. And he's having fun," Booth said, nodding to Parker, who was now laughing hysterically on the safely dry sand at the fact that his dad had pulled her in as well.

"He is," she agreed, softening. Then she turned back to him, shading her eyes with her hand so she could see his face better. "Booth, are you okay? You were gone for a really long time."

"Yeah, it's hard to move quickly through the sand. Gives your calves a mean workout, though. I'm fine, Bones. Why? Did Parker give you a hard time?"

"No, he was perfect. He's a much better listener than you are," she said lightly, planting her hands on the edge of the hole and hopping out, pushing with her arms.

She turned to watch him do the same, confused by the look on his face. He looked hurt. "Booth?" she asked.

He shook his head and said, with such obviously affected casualness that even she picked up on it, "I'm glad you guys are having a good time."

Without looking at her directly, he headed towards the house. He ruffled Parker's hair as he passed the boy, and headed straight for the large outdoor shower.

Now certain she'd upset him, but completely in the dark as to how she'd managed to do it this time, she hurried after him. As she passed Parker, she said, "Please stay under the umbrella. Do not go near the water. Or the pool."

"Okay," he called uncertainly, going back over to the umbrella obediently. He sat down next to the beach chair and started drawing dolphins in the sand with his finger.

Brennan hurried after Booth, despite the fact that he'd headed into the outdoor shower. "Booth, what's wrong?" she demanded over the sound of the spray.

He jumped and turned around to look at her, hands on his hips. "I'm taking a shower."

"You're rinsing off. Outdoors. In your shorts. No more naked than you've been all day. Plus, I've seen you naked before."

"Still. It's the principle of the thing."

"Fine," she said, stepping under the giant showerhead as well, crossing her arms as he was doing. "Now we're both taking a shower," she said, blinking water out of her eyes. "We're even. What did I say that upset you, Booth?"

"Nothing, okay, just, forget it. I know I should just be glad something's working." He was looking at her forehead though, not looking her in the eyes.

"That's even more confusing."

"I'm glad you're talking to Parker, Bones. Really, I am. I'm glad he's such a good listener that you don't need me or Sweets or Angela or anyone else. I really am. I just…" he trailed off, unable to finish. He didn't know how to articulate what he wanted to say. He wanted her to talk to him. But he knew it was more important that she talk to whoever could help her. If that person was Parker, he should just be happy that he'd talked her into joining them.

"Booth," Brennan cut him off. She wasn't entirely sure what the end of his sentence was going to be, but she thought she had the general idea. "Parker and I were talking about dolphins," she said meaningfully.

He looked her in the eyes now, automatically, out of surprise at her statement. "You were?"

"Yes. He wanted to learn about dolphins, so I was telling him. When I said he was a better listener than you, I was talking about the fact that you tend not to want to hear too many scientific details about things; you want me to give you the most relevant information in as succinct and simplistic phraseology as I can. To tell you what you need to know. I just meant that Parker has a genuine curiosity in the details and the process. He's a child. I believe that's normal for his age."

Booth visibly relaxed. "Sorry. I just…"

"I do want to talk to you though," she blurted out before she could talk herself out of it.

"You do? About… dolphins?"

"No. Well, I probably should, actually, because Parker was asking about the sexual characteristics of dolphins and I don't know how offended you'd be by frank scientific descriptions of non-human mammalian genitalia, but…"

"WHAT?" Booth spluttered, spraying water on her. "What kind of conversation _was _this?"

"It wasn't the entire conversation. It was the last question he asked me before we saw you coming: he wanted to know how you tell the difference between a male and female dolphin. I think drawing a picture would be the easiest way to explain it to him."

"Uh, yeah. Tell you what, you explain it to me first, then you can explain it to him. But, putting that aside for a minute, you didn't want to talk to me about dolphins. What do you want to talk to _me_ about?"

"Just… things. I guess. I don't know. Things that happened between us that I think we should use this time while we're away from work to try to address, so that when we go back to work we're… back to our normal dynamic."

"Okay, great!" he said, trying not to sound too enthusiastic. "Um, when?"

"I was going to talk to you earlier but you ran off."

He ran his hand through his wet hair and said, "Yeah, well…"

"After dinner would be a good time, when Parker's asleep."

"Okay, sure," he agreed eagerly.

"I'm not promising to be good at it," she stipulated.

"I know, I know. Just… I'm glad we're going to talk. Are you done?"

"Yes."

He reached around her and switched off the shower, feeling chilly. It was early evening, and getting cooler. Plus, he had jumped under the shower before the water had even gone from cold to warm. He passed her a towel and started drying himself off.

When she caught him chuckling, she raised an eyebrow. He pretended not to notice at first, but then waited a few moments and said, "Dear diary, today my partner and I showered together…"

"This does not count as showering together," she contradicted.

"Bones, you cannot deny that we are currently in a shower, and we were both standing under a showerhead that was showering water upon us both. I believe that fits the definition of showering, even to you and your squints."

"We are outdoors, and we were rinsing off before going inside. There was no soap involved, no nakedness… it was _not _a shower."

They continued their shower/not a shower debate as they went inside with Parker, going back and forth just like old times, pausing the argument to go into their respective rooms to put on clean, dry clothes, but resuming it in the living room when they reconvened.

Where it was usually someone at a crime scene, or Cam, or Angela, who interrupted their little verbal skirmishes, this time it was Parker.

"What's the big deal about taking a shower together?" he asked them both, clearly annoyed with the length of the argument.

They both looked at him, then at each other, neither wanting to explain it to him.

"Nothing, Parker," Booth said. "We're just joking around with each other. Why don't you go get cleaned up for dinner and do something inside while we fix it."

"Okay," Parker agreed, leaving. "I want to draw some pictures about our trip so far anyway. But Tempe, you still have to tell me about boy and girl dolphins," he reminded her before running off to his room.

"Yeah, Tempe, you still have to tell _me _about boy and girl dolphins too," Booth mimicked jokingly as he opened the refrigerator.

She swatted him with a dish towel in response.

Since they had had a fairly large lunch, they prepared a quick, simple dinner of salad, sandwiches, and pre-made potato salad. As they worked, Brennan explained the difference to Booth.

"… so the male dolphin has only two visible slits on his underside; one concealing the penis and the one further behind for the anus. The female has only one genital slit for both, but two slits on either side of that one for the mammary glands…" She stopped, amused at how squeamish he became – this time they weren't even talking about _human _genitalia, and he was _still _getting uncomfortable! She tried very hard not to let the scientist in her be too amused.

"All right, fine, you can tell him all that," Booth relented. "Just… try not to use all those same words. And don't tell him what they _do _with those."

"Booth, genitalia is not only used for..."

"Yeah, yeah, I saw that documentary about dolphins being horny all the time," Booth said.

"What?" Brennan asked, completely bewildered.

"Dolphins. I saw this show about how they're like the only animals besides humans who have sex with each other just for fun, not for, you know, reproduction. Dolphins are horny," he concluded.

She looked mildly offended, because it was clear he was meaning it as an insult to the species. "Booth, just because there is some evidence of sexual encounters and secondary sexual contact among dolphins, that doesn't connote 'horniness,' as I'm sure you mean it, and even if it did…"

Parker trotted into the kitchen and stopped and looked at them both, since they'd both gone instantly silent when they saw him coming. "What are you arguing about now?" he asked.

"Nothing," they both said together, hastily.

"Was it something grown-up?" Parker asked hopefully, knowing guilty faces when he saw them.

"Maybe. Even if it was, you're not a grown-up," Booth said, ruffling his hair. "Now, why don't you ask Bones your dolphin question again, while I set the table." He grabbed a stack of dishes and went to the living room.

Parker looked to Brennan hopefully. She waved him over and, with a slight groan, picked him up by the armpits and set him on the counter. She grabbed the notepad that lived by the phone for messages and grocery lists, no doubt, and a pen, and stood beside him.

She drew an outline of the underside of two dolphins, side by side, drew two strategically placed lines on one, and three on the other. She pointed to the first one. "This dolphin is male, or a boy, as you were calling him, although 'boy,' is usually meant to refer to a young human male…"

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"Okay, no more learning today," Booth said firmly as they all sat down to dinner. "I can't eat if you're going to talk about that kind of stuff."

Parker giggled and picked up his fork. "Daddy, it's just science."

"Yeah, no science-talk, or squinty-talk as I like to call it, during mealtimes. That's one of our rules."

Parker looked to Brennan, who nodded, confirming that it was a 'rule,' although it was a rule imposed and not always effectively enforced by Booth alone. Usually, she did try to refrain from talking about the more scientific or gruesome aspects of a case while they were eating.

Parker talked about movies instead; he found it fascinating that Brennan hadn't seen any of the movies he had seen, and was clearly pleased that he could teach _her _something. "I know! Dad, after dinner, we gotta watch 'Finding Nemo!' Tempe, it's really good, it's about fish and everything, it's the perfect movie for the beach, right Daddy?"

"I don't know if Bones will like it, bub," Booth tried to warn, thinking about a constant diatribe from his partner about the personification of computer-generated fish and other marine creatures, the impossibility of a male adult fish having an emotional connection to anyone, or a vegetarian shark renouncing his killer ways…

"Please, Tempe?" Parker asked hopefully. "It's really good. It's about a dad and his son, just like us, right Daddy? Marlin's a really _good _dad, just like mine," he said proudly, smiling at his dad.

Booth smiled back at his son, touched and surprised. He had no idea that was why Parker liked that particular movie so much.

Seeing it was important to both of them, Brennan said, "I'd love to see it, Parker."

He smiled happily and went back to his dinner. Brennan checked with Booth to make sure she'd said the right thing to him. He was smiling encouragingly at her.

"Daddy, when we go fishing tomorrow, are we going to see Nemos?" Parker asked.

"No, buddy, we won't see Nemo."

"Good, I don't want to catch any Nemos! What _are _we gonna catch, Dad?"

They talked about the fishing trip for the rest of the meal. After they were finished with the meal, Booth took Parker for his bath and to help him get ready for bed.

Brennan used the opportunity to sneak off to her room to use the cell phone she wasn't supposed to have with her. She shut the door and called Angela, glancing at her watch nervously. It was almost eight; Angela was probably out somewhere. It took a while, but Angela finally answered.

"Hi Sweetie! Sorry, I didn't hear you call. Is everything okay? How's the FBI stud and the junior G-man?"

Rolling her eyes, Brennan said, "They're fine. Angela, Parker's in the bath so I don't exactly have a lot of time here. I need help."

"Okay, spill. This must be good if you're admitting you need help."

"Well, I don't understand what's going on with Booth – he keeps insisting on relaxing and having a good time, and encouraging me to do so, and he keeps acting like he wants to talk, I mean, not just 'adult conversation' like you were saying before, because we've been doing that, but talk about more serious things, like Zack and Booth being shot and other things too, I suppose, but then he ran off!"

"What? Slow down, sweetie."

"I can't slow down! Parker's going to be out of the bath soon and then we're all watching a cartoon about a lost talking fish, or something equally implausible, from what I gathered."

"Awwww…"

"Ange, please, focus, I really need help here!"

"Okay. Tell me what you meant about Booth running off."

"Okay. Um, it was this afternoon. Parker was inside, taking a nap. I was trying to put more sunscreen on my back by myself. Booth came out and offered to help."

Angela started her own soundtrack to a porn. "Boum-chick-a-wow-wow…"

"Angela!"

"Sorry, Bren, couldn't resist. Continue. _Please._"

"So, umm…" she started again, uncertainly. She knew the story would only please Angela more and more as she told the rest of it. Best just to get it out quickly. "So he was rubbing the sunscreen in and he said my neck was really tense…"

Thankfully, Angela didn't interrupt her again. She recounted the rest of the massage encounter quickly and succinctly; perhaps Angela sensed that she'd clam up if she was interrupted again.

"… and he asked if I felt better, and when I said I did and thanked him, he said he was going for a run and got up and ran off down the beach before I could say anything else. He was gone long enough for Parker and I to _both _take a nap, then have quite a long conversation about dolphins afterwards. He came back looking completely exhausted, after the tide came in."

"Well, what was his mood like when he came back?"

"Normal, I think. Well, he was a bit annoyed when he fell in the hole Parker had dug earlier in the day."

Angela laughed at that and then said, "You can be very dense for a genius sometimes, Bren. But I suppose that's part of your charm."

"I have no idea whether you just insulted or complimented me," Brennan replied truthfully.

"I know, sweetie. That's kind of my point. Look, Brennan, I don't think you should read too much into Booth's little jaunt."

"But…"

"What was he wearing?"

"Athletic shorts and shoes… he changed out of his swimsuit when he took Parker in for his nap and had Parker do the same. Why?"

"And you were wearing?"

"My swimsuit. _My _being the operative word there. Thanks a lot for switching out every single suit I had packed except for that one, by the way!"

"You're welcome. Yours were all one-pieces. You're lucky I left you that one. Now, back to the point. Sweetie, you were both half naked and he was rubbing lotion all over your back."

"Sunscreen," Brennan corrected.

"Whatever. The point is, he was probably just trying to distract himself before he did something both of you seem to think would be the end of the world for some reason."

"What are you talking about?"

"He was turned on, Bren, and he didn't want you to know. That plain enough for you?"

"Yes. But I highly doubt that you're right, Angela. Even if Booth were 'turned on,' why would he think…"

"Because he didn't want to hear you reciting out of a textbook how it was a 'normal response' for a man of his age and how it meant nothing and all that crap, and he…" she stopped as she overheard Booth yelling, "Bones, we're ready to start the movie when you are!" from somewhere in the distance.

Guessing that Booth or Parker, or both, would be coming to look for her shortly if she didn't appear, Brennan said quickly, "Angela, if that's all it was, I'd be lucky. That's no big deal. Thanks; I've got to go. I'll try to call you later to talk about it more."

She hung up quickly, leaving Angela on the other end of the phone to shake her head and say to the disconnected phone, "You _so _don't get it."

Brennan quickly changed into her sleeping attire and went back to the living room. Parker was snuggled in the middle of the couch in dinosaur pajamas with a giant bowl of popcorn on his lap. Booth was putting the DVD in. He stopped her with a hand on her arm as she passed him and leaned in close so Parker wouldn't hear him speak. "I promise I'll listen to all your complaints about the inaccuracies of the movie afterwards, but please don't say anything to Parker."

"I won't," she promised, stepping away from him quickly. It would have been nice to have a few Booth-free moments to rationalize and analyze what Angela had said before he'd invaded her personal space again.

She quickly took a seat next to Parker, thinking that at least Angela hadn't found out about the shower. Yet. Angela was annoyingly intuitive about this sort of thing. Booth called it psychic. Even Brennan had to admit she had wondered from time to time.

The movie was hard to pay attention to. She found the graphics well-done, the storyline a good, dencent one with obvious importance to children and parents, but had trouble getting past the fact that the fish were talking and using their fins like hands. It wasn't riveting enough to keep her mind from thinking about talking to Booth later.

Particularly, how Angela's information factored into that decision.

Angela was usually right about this sort of thing… but that didn't necessarily mean that she was right this time. Brennan had a hard time believing that she was, and spent most of the movie trying to determine whether Angela was right or not, and what the potential ramifications were in each possible scenario.

She realized the movie was over when "Beyond the Sea" filtered into her brain, through her musings. She turned to the others on the couch and smiled; they were both asleep. She wasn't surprised – she was exhausted and she hadn't done nearly as much strenuous activity today as Booth had done.

Parker was curled into his dad's side, Booth's arm securely around him. She turned down the volume on the television, but left it on for the light it provided. Carefully picking up Parker, she took him to his room and rolled her eyes at the mattress still on the floor. During the day tomorrow, when he was awake and more rational, she would have to try to explain to him that the bed was as sturdy at night as it was during the day.

With some effort, she lowered Parker to the mattress on the floor and tucked him in, shutting the door softly behind her.

She then went back to the living room, debating. She knew she had agreed to talk to Booth tonight. But that had been before talking to Angela. Her head was now so full with all of the thinking that the conversation with Angela had lead to that she now didn't exactly feel comfortable having a heart-to-heart with Booth just now. So it was lucky that he was asleep, really.

But, she couldn't let him sleep like that all night. He had to get up early for the fishing trip, and he would not be comfortable and well rested sitting on the couch like that all night. But if she woke him, there was a possibility he'd remember their scheduled 'talk.'

Hopefully he was too tired. She leaned over him and put her hands on his shoulders. "Booth? Wake up… a little."

He mumbled something and woke groggily, looking confused for a moment as he saw her. "Parker?"

"He fell asleep too. I already put him in bed. I think you can probably tuck yourself in, though."

He gave a tired chuckle at that and let her pull him to his feet and point him towards the hallway that led to his bedroom, mumbling a sleepy goodnight to her.

She waited until he'd closed his bedroom door, turned off all the lights and locked up, and went to bed herself, certain that she would have trouble falling asleep.

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Parker got up, needing to go to the bathroom, badly. He padded across the hall barefoot, went into the bathroom he was sharing with his dad, and took care of his business. He washed his hands and decided to go see if Tempe was awake again. Maybe she'd sing him another song, or if she was still in the kitchen, maybe she'd let him have another cookie before sending him back to bed.

He padded out into the living room, but it was empty. So was the dining room. She was probably asleep then. Still, just to make sure… he crept down the hallway that led to her bedroom and stopped outside her door. It was almost shut, but not quite. He heard sounds coming from inside, and peeked in carefully. The nightstand light was still on, and he could see Tempe.

She was sitting on the floor, knees bent, hugging her knees to her chest and crying, hard. Like maybe she was hurt, or just really upset.

Parker did the thing he thought best; he ran to his dad's room. Shaking his shoulders hard, he said, "Daddy, wake up!"

"Parker, what is it? Did you have a bad dream?" his dad asked.

"Not me. Tempe did, maybe. I don't know. She's in her room crying. I think she needs help."

"Okay. Stay here for me, will you, bud? You can sleep here for a bit, but maybe Bones needs to talk to an adult right now. I'll come get you if it's okay, all right?"

"Okay," Parker said warily.

His dad tucked him in, kissed him, and promised him it would be okay.

Booth was determined that this time, she would talk to him, whether or not she wanted to. She'd been talking to Parker so much Booth was feeling stupid for being jealous of his own son. But enough was enough. He let himself into her room and hurried over to her, crouching down in front of her and putting a hand on her arm. "Bones?"

She looked up at him, shook her head, and kept crying. "I can't stop, Booth. I don't know… what's wrong with me. I can't stop crying."

"You will, eventually. It's okay. Just let it out."

"I don't let things out."

"I know, that's why this is probably way overdue. Come on, it's just me. I won't tell anyone." He sat down next to her with his back against the side of the bed and wrapped his arms around her, rubbing her arm and pressing his cheek to the top of her head. He didn't say anything, and after a few minutes of feeling her trying to restrain herself, the only sobs escaping the ones she clearly couldn't keep in, she finally gave up trying.

He knew she'd given up when she twisted into him more, trying to get closer, hugging him and pressing her teary face into his neck and shoulder. He slid an arm under her knees and shifted her to his lap, something she never would have allowed normally. But it was more comfortable for both of them in their current positions.

He waited until the hysterical sobbing had calmed down to quiet sobbing before he tried to talk. "We'll help Zack, as much as we can," he promised.

"It's not just Zack," she mumbled, tired from all the crying. "It's… everything. I guess. I just… I don't know."

"Come on. Let's get off the floor before my ass goes to sleep permanently. I listen better that way."

"You listen with your ass?" she tossed back automatically as she got to her feet.

He smiled, glad that she was enough herself again that she hadn't let that one go, and got to his feet, knees popping loudly. He was surprised when instead of sitting down on the bed, she crawled back under the covers, scooting over enough to leave room for him. Knowing that if he teased her now, she would retreat, kick him out, and never talk to him about why she'd been crying, he didn't say anything.

He got in with her, turned on his side, and waited. When she scooted back into him, pressing her back into his chest, he put his arm back around her, sliding the other one under her pillow to hug her as well.

"I just… it's been a rough few months. Everything's happened so fast I guess I didn't really have time to… dwell on it until now."

"Your dad's trial?" he guessed.

"Partly. But mainly… you."

"Me?"

"Yeah, Booth. You. Being shot. You forget about that minor detail?"

"No. But I thought you weren't mad at me for that anymore."

"I'm not… not really, anyway. But I just… being here with you and Parker, seeing twenty-four hours a day how you are with him… I don't know, I guess it just really drove home the possibilities. If you really had been dead… Parker's whole world would have been shattered. His life would never be the same if you died."

Booth had been in therapy with Sweets long enough to realize that she wasn't just talking about Parker; it just made it easier for her to use Parker to explain her own feelings. "I guess I just got lucky," Booth said, not knowing what else to say in response.

She was quiet for a few minutes, then she said, "Sweets was… wrong, Booth."

He could tell she considered it to be a huge admission on her part, but he didn't know what she was talking about. "Wrong about what? For not telling you?"

"No. Well, yes, but that's not what I meant. He um… you know how he said that he thought I could handle your death, so he didn't tell me?"

"And you said you weren't crying at the funeral because you had."

"Yeah. Um, that wasn't exactly… accurate. The truth is… I wasn't crying, because… well, because I hadn't processed it at _all. _I was… I guess I was in denial, or shock, or a combination of both. All I know is I was totally numb for those two weeks. I walked around, I did my job, I responded to everyone the way I normally would, but I did it all like I was on autopilot. I don't even… I don't think I had even begun to process it at all. So I… I don't know. I guess I just, tonight, really couldn't stop thinking about the _what ifs, _that during those two weeks, if I had been processing things properly, I would have been thinking were real, at the time. Does that make sense?"

"Sure," Booth said. He wasn't sure he got it 100 percent, but he got it enough.

"I'm really glad you aren't dead, Booth. I don't think I said that before," she said quietly.

She meant it as an apology, he knew. He took it as one, and said, "Thanks. Me too. I'm glad I'm not dead too, and I'm sorry too."

They lay there in comfortable silence for a few minutes. Booth knew he should say something and get up, but he really didn't want to. He was having a hard time forcing himself to do what he knew he should. The longer they lay there together, without the distraction of her being upset and needing comfort… the more it felt like something the FBI wouldn't like… and Sweets would.

But he finally determined that he would just leave it up to her. He'd go when she told him to go.

He nearly jumped out of his skin two seconds after making the decision when Parker knocked quietly on the doorframe and padded inside. "Daddy? Tempe, are you okay?"

She nodded and smiled at him when he went round the bed to the other side so she could see him. "I'm much better."

"All better?"

"Almost."

At that, he scrambled up onto the bed, burrowed under the covers, and curled into her. "I don't want you to be sad," he said sincerely.

"I'm not sad anymore, Parker," she assured him. "You've been doing a wonderful job all week long of cheering me up. You and your dad both."

He smiled proudly and then yawned, unable to stop himself. He dropped off to sleep almost immediately.

"He was worried about you," Booth explained quietly. "He came to get me because he heard you crying."

"He's a very sweet boy, Booth. You're a wonderful father."

"Thank you." He rubbed her arm and yawned.

They both fell asleep within minutes.

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	10. Chapter 10

Author's Note: Here's the big conversation, so the rest of the vacation can be nothing but fun (and some UST and stuff). Thanks to everyone who's reading and reviewing - it's really making me work harder on finishing faster, knowing that people are waiting to find out what happens. Two quick things: one, I'm spelling Zack's name the way it's spelled on the Fox website and on the trophy Cam gave to Zack on the show. I know a lot of people spell it differently, but I figure that's more reliable than imdb, which has it spelled with the 'h.' Sorry if I'm wrong; I figured going with how it was shown on the show was the safest way to go. Two, the thing that happens to Parker really did happen to me on a fishing trip when I was little, so believe me, it is totally possible.

Thank you for reading.

Ch 10

When Booth woke up in the morning, he realized he was already smiling. It wasn't hard to figure out why. His nose was pressed into the back of his partner's head, her shampoo smell filling his nostrils. And he was pretty much as close to the rest of her as he could get while still having clothes on.

And while his arms were around his partner, hers were around his son. Parker was sleeping soundly, mouth open, drooling slightly on her arm. He couldn't remember ever waking up so happy. Which was sad in its own way, because he was sure it was a once in a lifetime thing.

His partner's walls didn't tumble down often, and she always put them back up quickly. So, he figured he should enjoy it while it lasted.

He had no sooner laid his head back down on the pillow than his son's messy blonde head of curls popped up and looked at both adults. He smiled at his dad, who put his finger to his mouth in silent greeting. Parker nodded, peering so closely at Brennan's face that Booth was amazed she didn't just wake up feeling the gaze – or feeling him breathing on her.

Satisfied that she was still sleeping peacefully, Parker crept out of the bed as carefully as he could.

Guessing what his son was after, Booth wasn't surprised when Parker bolted for the nearest toilet as soon as he was free of the bed. He glanced at the clock and saw that it was still early – they might have to rush to make it to the fishing boat on time, but they were still okay. He heard the toilet flush and Parker came back into the room, coming to Booth's side of the bed.

Booth craned his neck to see his son as best he could. "You want to fix breakfast again, buddy?"

"Nope. I wanna go watch cartoons," Parker whispered.

"Okay, I'll come turn on the TV…"

"I can do it! You gotta stay here with Tempe!" Parker insisted.

"Why?" Booth asked, confused.

"Because, if she wakes up all by herself she'll be lonely. She'll think we left her alone in the night, when she was sad! I'll stay if you want to get up, Daddy, but we can't leave her alone!"

"Okay," Booth said, realizing his son was dead serious if he was volunteering to stay in bed after waking up, which was impossible for his squirmy, active son. "I'll stay with her. You can go watch cartoons. You can get cereal if you want, but NO cooking."

"Okay."

Booth watched his son run out of the room. Then, he turned back around and looked at his partner's face closely. He wasn't surprised to find that she was awake, pretending to be asleep with her eyes closed. "ANY chance at all you slept through that?" he asked quietly.

The smile she was very nearly containing broke free and she opened her eyes. "Sorry. He was so concerned, I didn't want him to think he spoiled his own efforts."

"Thank you. Do you feel… okay… today?"

She nodded, looking a bit self-conscious. He could tell the walls were going back up, but hopefully they weren't quite as high as they'd been the day before. "I could reschedule the fishing for another day," he offered.

"No, Parker's so excited about it; you don't need to do that."

"He'll understand."

"I'm okay, Booth, really," she said sincerely. He was doing the eye-searching thing to make sure she wasn't lying or hiding anything. She let him.

He finally nodded, satisfied. Then, to her surprise, he kissed her on the cheek before getting up.

She heard them getting prepared for their trip, hurrying a bit, making various noises throughout the house, but didn't feel the need to get up. It was a vacation, after all, and she didn't have anything strictly scheduled. She had talked about going SCUBA diving today, but she didn't feel up to it now. She had things to mull over, the conversation from the night before, her feelings in general, the things they hadn't talked about yet, specifically Zack… she had way too much on her mind to be completely safe while diving today.

They came in to tell her goodbye before they left, and she dozed lightly for another hour or so before getting up. She fixed herself a simple breakfast of fruit, toast, and the coffee Booth had left on for her, and took it out to the table outside to eat while watching the waves.

The rhythmic motion of the waves had a calming effect on her. She knew, rationally, that she didn't need to feel embarrassed or uncomfortable about crying in front of Booth like that the night before, but part of her still automatically steered her in that direction. She had been a very private person her entire life, after all. Over the years of their partnership and friendship, she had told Booth things even Angela didn't know, and he never reacted to anything he told her as though it made her weak or too emotional to be effective at her job, or anything else. Sometimes he even seemed to act like he thought it made her _stronger. _She didn't understand that completely illogical conclusion, but she could try to accept it.

It was easier to accept it here, away from work, when the underlying fear that if he thought she wasn't capable of handling something emotionally, he might not think she was safe to go into the field with as his partner anymore, existed in a more removed, more theoretical state. It was still a real concern she couldn't quite shake, but it was easier to believe that it wasn't true when they were at the beach having a good time.

Those fears under control for now, her thoughts turned to her interrupted phone call with Angela the previous evening. She wasn't so sure she wanted to finish the phone call. Angela would undoubtedly be helpful, in a very blunt, forceful way. But last night, talking to Angela had only made her aware of an issue she hadn't even been considering… and didn't she have enough issues to try to handle at the moment, on her own, without Angela pointing out others?

Still, it had been brought up. There was no dismissing it entirely now. She went inside and tried to call Angela back, but the artist's voicemail message came on after several rings. "Hi, Ange… sorry I didn't call you back last night… um, call me back when you get a chance so we can finish talking about the thing we were talking about before. I still don't think you were right about it, by the way, but we should talk about it. Thank you. Bye."

Well, she couldn't expect Angela to sit around by her phone all day waiting for Brennan to call her from the beach. Thinking about Angela, and what Angela would suggest doing right now if she were here, Brennan decided that instead of SCUBA today, she might do a little souvenir shopping and take her time exploring the town a bit more.

She dressed comfortably for that task in a blue tank top and loose, crinkly skirt with bunches of blue colors in it bleeding together and comfortable sandals for lots of walking. Plenty of sunscreen applied, she grabbed her sunglasses, the keys to the house, and her bag. She was almost out the door when it occurred to her that if she got preoccupied in town, Booth and Parker might actually get back from their fishing trip before she did. She quickly left a note explaining where she went and left it on the empty countertop before setting out.

As she explored the various shops, she thought about things her friends would like. She didn't always bring things back for them when she went somewhere, but if she saw things she knew would appeal to them, she often did. The task was interesting enough to keep her busy, but simple enough that she could still think about things while she shopped – the internalized, one-sided version of shopping with Angela.

She found herself picking out things for Parker fairly easily; well, that made sense. He was a child, and liked just about anything. She got him a disposable underwater camera, thinking that he would probably have fun with it in the pool or the ocean, since he was practicing his snorkeling every day. It came in a package with two other, non-waterproof disposable cameras. She also got him a stuffed animal of a penguin wearing a Hawaiian-style tee-shirt with removable sunglasses, because he had mentioned he liked penguins.

In a smaller, less-touristy shop she found a sculpture Angela would love and made arrangements to have it shipped, not wanting to lug it around all day and even worse, have to fly back with it safely.

She got a selection of beach-themed bath salts and other similar products for Cam, because it seemed like something Angela would have reminded her to do and nudged her towards. Hodgins was difficult. She stopped to eat a quick, light lunch and then continued looking for something Hodgins would like. She had just remembered Hodgin's obsession with pirates and selected a print of a very old pirate map of the island and the surrounding area for him, and was leaving the store when she spotted it.

The funny hat grabbed her attention instantly – it was apparently meant to be worn while swimming, to create the effect of an approaching shark. The thing was ridiculous looking, the sort of thing bought as a whim on vacation, used there, and no doubt relegated to the closet when the suitcase was emptied out at home. But it nearly made her cry.

The goofy hat reminded her of Zack.

She picked it up and saw herself taking it to the register and buying it as though she were watching her own actions through a security camera in the next room. She made it out of the store and was hurrying along the pavement, trying to rationalize away the clenched feeling in her stomach, but all she could think of was that Zack wouldn't be there at the lab to get his present when she got home. She'd have to take it to him, _there, _in that place, and they might not even let him have it.

And why would he want it anyway? she thought angrily to herself. It was a stupid hat with a plastic shark fin sticking out the top! Everyone else had given Zack items he cherished, things Booth had gathered together and taken to Zack at the institution. All she'd ever given him was that damn acceptance letter… Booth had brought the letter to her attention and comforted her with it, and with what he thought it meant, to Zack, and that had helped… but she still felt responsible for not giving him more.

She couldn't give him this stupid hat! It wasn't good enough. And he couldn't exactly go swimming where he was – when would he ever get to use it?

She shoved the hat into one of the rubbish bins strategically placed along the pavement and charged into the next store determined to find something that was good enough for Zack.

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Booth was getting worried. He and Parker had gotten back from their fishing trip at around two. The day had been great, spending time on a boat with his son. That in and of itself was enough to make him happy; the fishing was just a bonus. He was a little sunburnt, having reapplied sunscreen to Parker twice but erroneously thought that he himself would be fine without it.

They hadn't caught any fish either. Parker had somehow managed to catch some kind of an eel, and had been so shocked at the sight of it when he reeled it out of the water that he'd nearly dropped his fishing pole in the ocean. Even the guide had been surprised – but had quickly cut it from Parker's line before the little boy could bring it aboard. That had been plenty of excitement for Parker, who thought catching an eel was much cooler than catching a fish ("Anybody can do that, Dad," Parker had insisted).

They'd eaten lunch on the boat and returned at two with Parker dying to tell Brennan about his big adventure catching the eel. Booth had found the note she'd left and been surprised that she'd thought to leave it. He'd tucked the note into his suitcase and played with Parker in the pool for a little while, sure she'd be home soon…

It was now well after three; Parker was asleep in his room, and Booth was getting concerned. It wasn't like her to spend so much time shopping. Especially without Angela there twisting her arm. While he couldn't imagine what sort of trouble she could have stumbled across shopping for souvenirs… he knew something was amiss. He just knew it.

He was perched on the edge of the countertop, rolling a bottle of water back and forth between his hands and looking generally pensive when she came in the back door.

She was carrying several shopping bags, but she looked utterly defeated. He hopped off the counter and hurried over to her. "What happened, Bones?" he asked as she dumped all of the bags by the door and took off her sunglasses.

"Oh, hi, Booth. I didn't know you were back," she said, sounding as though her brain were miles and miles away from the rest of her.

"It's after three, we've been back for a while. Parker's asleep. What. Happened."

"I… I couldn't find anything," she said, finally looking him in the eye.

Her eyes had that sad, scared, lost look to them that he hated, because it broke his heart. She hardly ever got that look. Usually it had something to do with her father or brother when she did, but he'd seen it a few other times too. He couldn't imagine what could have happened during shopping that could have produced such a look, though.

"Come here." He grabbed her arms lightly and pulled her into the living room, where it was cooler. She looked slightly overheated; it was a very hot day outside and she'd obviously been doing a lot of outdoor walking, carrying bags and things. Bits of hair had come loose from her ponytail and were hanging limply around her face, and her cheeks and shoulders were pink.

She was a bit sweaty too, although he doubted she'd appreciate it if he pointed that out. The redness of her cheeks and the blueness of her shirt were making her eyes seem even more blue than usual. It was not helping him resist the urge to hug her to him tightly until she was somehow magically better. She needed to talk first. He knew that.

He guided her over to the sofa and sat down on the coffee table himself, their knees almost touching when they both sat. He pressed the bottle of water he'd been drinking into her hands. She looked at it for a few seconds and then started drinking it absently. She finished it off and set it aside. "Thanks. I… couldn't find anything," she repeated.

"Those bags by the door seem to indicate otherwise. What do you mean you couldn't find anything, Bones?" he pressed gently.

"For Zack," she answered meaningfully, looking him in the eye again. Her eyes were filling with tears. "I… I found things for Parker right away, he's so easy, and Angela, Cam, even Hodgins! And then I saw… I saw this stupid, ridiculous hat with an artificial shark fin on it and it reminded me of Zack because he'd let Hodgins put anything on his head no matter how silly it looked, and he walked around as half a cow like it was the most normal thing in the world, when even though it was Halloween, he still looked more unusual than the rest of us, and… it was so stupid. He has no use for an artificial shark fin hat where he is now."

She said the last sentence with such intense conviction that Booth, who hadn't understood most of what she'd said up to that point, still got the meaning behind it. He covered her hands, which were in her lap, with his, rubbing the backs of her hands with his thumbs while he tried to think of the right way to respond. "Zack… would still think it was funny. He'd appreciate the gesture," he tried.

"I threw it away; it was a stupid idea. But I had to get him something! I couldn't get something for everyone else and not for him! I… I tried. I wanted to get him something; you all gave him things and I never did, but… I couldn't find anything. I couldn't find anything that was good enough. I looked everywhere," she said, looking upset enough that he knew she was two seconds from standing up again, and pacing, so he couldn't see her wiping her eyes.

He slid forward on the coffee table so now their knees were touching, and leaned forward more, their heads almost touching too, still holding her hands. "Bones, Zack is a genius, but he's a goofball. He'll like anything you get him. He'd've liked that shark hat. This isn't about not finding the right souvenir for Zack, is it?"

"Well, obviously that's not all it's about! You're going to quote Sweets now, aren't you?"

"No. Not quote him. But I might sound like him for a minute or two. Just don't tell him," he added, trying to get a smile out of her. It didn't work, but he could tell she appreciated the effort. "You're putting a lot of value on what you bring Zack back. For two reasons, I think. The first one is because you want to bring something back for _everyone, _because then it will be easier to think of this as any old vacation, and when we go home, everyone will be there at the lab together to get their presents from you at the same time." She was about to argue, so he just continued. "I know you know that's not what's going to happen. But you can _pretend, _for part of the time, that everything at home is the way it used to be, if you do something normal like picking out gifts for everyone while you're here. The second reason is because you still feel guilty that you hadn't given him any of the knick-knacks he kept in his office, even though I showed you the letter. Which, by the way, he was keeping safely stored in a drawer, in an envelope that had been opened enough for me to tell that he was trying to keep it safe, but he still took it out to read it and look at it a _lot._"

"Maybe," she reluctantly admitted after several moments of silence.

He nodded, then, after a few minutes, said, "This is where Sweets comes in though, I guess, because I don't know what to do now, to fix this. All I can think to say is the same thing I said before. You get credit for everything in that office, because you gave Zack a home at the Jeffersonian. First by making him your grad student, then by getting Cam to hire him after he got his PhDs…"

"Angela did that," Brennan said dismissively. "She gave him the makeover so Cam would know he could be effective in front of a jury…"

"She polished him up a little. You threatened to quit if Cam didn't hire him."

"Oh. You found out about that?" she asked, looking a bit sheepish.

"Yeah."

"I don't seem to be very effective at blackmailing people."

He chuckled. "That's a good thing, Bones. Anyway, Cam knew he was important to you, and to everyone else there, so he stayed. But you brought him there first, Bones. That means something. He may have bonded to everyone there, but you're the one that brought the puppy home. That matters."

She looked like she wanted to object to his metaphor, but she let it go with a huge sigh. "I just… I feel like… I can't even describe it. I tried to be a good teacher to him… Parker said maybe he just didn't want to learn, but it can't be that simple. I must have done something wrong, spent too much time out of the lab, not encouraged him enough… I was trying to let him do things more on his own so he would gain more confidence in his own abilities without having me check every step of his work, but maybe he thought I was neglecting him…"

"You didn't neglect him," Booth said, surprised. "Bones, he was an adult. A strange one, but he was an adult. You can't take responsibility for his choices."

"I know that, intellectually. But I've still never felt more responsible for the mistakes of another person in my life, Booth. It's like…" she struggled to find another way to explain this to him. "Booth, what if it was Parker?" she asked suddenly.

He straightened a little bit, not liking the comparison, but she squeezed his hands back for the first time and continued.

"No, Booth, please. Hypothetically. If Parker did something like this. If Parker ended up committing a crime… how would you treat him afterwards? I thought by getting my dad off the murder charges and getting Zack committed instead of put in prison I was helping them, but what if it's only going to make it worse? His prior choices aside, I've basically condoned what he did by helping him…"

"You haven't," he interrupted. "You haven't condoned what he did. Your father or Zack. Zack especially. Bones… if it was Parker, I'd have acted _exactly_ the same way you've acted."

"Really?" she asked after a few moments.

"Really. You were compassionate with him in the hospital. You guided him into understanding what he'd done wrong. You _taught _him how he'd gone wrong. You guided him to make amends the only way he could at that point by helping us catch Gormogon. You've helped heal him physically with all the plastic surgeons you've been sending to work on his hands. You've helped him heal emotionally by not abandoning him for what he did, but continuing to support and love him for who he is, _despite_ what he did. That's more than most kids get from their own biological parents. That's more than Zack's getting from his own, from what I hear. And I couldn't do more than that for Parker, if it were him."

He watched her while she mulled that over for several minutes, looking down at their hands while she thought. She finally looked up again and said, "You're the best parent I know."

"Bones…"

"I'm not trying to flatter you, Booth. It's true; it's a fact. You're a wonderful father. So, if you're saying that I did the right thing… I have to believe you."

He gave a half-smile, pleased, but had to ask, "Then why don't you look a little more relieved?"

"Because, I can appreciate and understand and accept everything you've just said, but I still feel a sense of guilt and responsibility for what happened. And that, I don't understand."

"Well, that, Bones, I do understand perfectly." At her puzzled look, he continued. "I still feel guilty for every scraped knee, every bruised elbow Parker's managed to get while he was with me. Even though I know there wasn't anything I could've done to stop it… the guilt's still there. It never goes all the way away, when someone you love gets hurt. But it does get better. You can't protect everyone all the time, Bones. Especially from themselves."

"You're pretty good at it," she mumbled, almost too quietly for him to hear. She was staring at his chest, and even though he was wearing a tee-shirt, he felt like she was staring at the bandage over his bullet wound.

"Bones, I didn't mean… do you feel guilty about me getting shot?" he asked, unable to keep the surprise from his voice as the thought occurred to him.

"Of course I feel guilty about you getting shot, Booth!" she responded quickly. "How can I not feel guilty? She was trying to shoot me, and you got in the way! I thought you died, and I thought it was my fault! You didn't die, but it was still my fault! I was facing the door and I didn't even see her come in; I was so busy acting like a fool on stage that I didn't even notice her until I saw her and heard the gun and saw you go down all at once, then there was just blood, everywhere…"

She wasn't even trying to ignore the fact that she was crying anymore. "Hey," Booth interrupted gently, trying to get closer to her. It wasn't easy with the way they were sitting. He leaned forward and pressed his forehead to hers, their joint hands getting a bit smooshed between their bodies.

One of her hands slid up to the spot on his chest where the bandage was, like it was moving all on its own. He covered her hand there with his again and said firmly, "It was Pam Noonan's fault that I got shot, Bones. It wasn't yours. For every argument you have that it was your fault, there's another one that it was my own fault. You're a wonderful partner and I trust you with my life in the field, but you don't have the official training I do for scoping out locations, Bones. I should have seen her come in, not you. I should have paid more attention to you and Sweets warning me she was a threat, and had someone watching _her. _Hell, I should have picked up on her tailing us for days. You can play this 'what if' game at the end of every case that doesn't end the way you want it to but it'll just kill you if you do. It wasn't your fault. I don't blame you for me getting shot. Nobody does, and nobody would."

"I can't help it," she whispered.

"I thought you were mad at me for Zack," he said suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, but he was going somewhere.

"What?" she asked, confused, and looking like she was getting a headache.

"I knew you were mad at me for not telling you I wasn't dead. But I believed you when you told Parker you were forgiving me for that. I thought you were _still _mad at me for Zack."

"Why would I blame you for Zack?"

"You blamed me for not stopping him for going to Iraq," he reminded her. "And I did _want _to stop him from doing that, Bones, despite what I told you. What I told you was the truth. That was why I _didn't _stop him. But that didn't mean I didn't _want _to stop him. The way I have it figured, he was more messed up when he came back from Iraq than he let anybody see. I… think that might have made him easier prey for Gormogon. That makes what happened to Zack my fault. That's how I feel about it, and I thought that's how you felt about it too."

She shook her head. "I don't blame you for Zack. I blame you for not telling me you were dead, but I've forgiven you for that, Booth, really. We don't even need to talk about that again, it's just… over. But I _never _blamed you for Zack, Booth. I accepted and understood your reason for not stopping him from going to Iraq long ago. You're not responsible for Gormogon preying on Zack, Booth, you're just, _not._"

"If that's true, then you're not responsible for Pam Noonan shooting me."

She gave him a sudden, surprised, suspicious smile, leaning back so their foreheads separated but she could see his face. "Did you just win an argument through logic and reason rather than by appealing to emotions and other unquantifiable factors?"

"I hope so."

Shaking her head in amazement, but smiling even more now, she said, "Thank you."

"You're welcome." He felt truly relieved; that was one thing about Bones, once she made up her mind about something, that was it. If she really was okay with everything they'd just talked about, she was okay with it from now on. And he was more than a little relieved that he'd been wrong about her blaming him for Zack. He wasn't sure if he'd ever been so happy to be wrong before in his life, actually.

He sat up straighter, still smiling, rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb quickly before pulling it off his chest. He kissed the back of her hand before letting it go. She raised an eyebrow at him. "I owed you," he said, to lighten the mood.

"What do you mean you owed me?" she asked, unwittingly taking the bait.

"You kissed my hand at the reflecting pool, right after the first Gormogon case…" he reminded.

"I did not!" she insisted. "I was going to drink my coffee and you put your hand there, Booth! You put your hand under my mouth, that's not the same thing as me kissing it!"

"Po-tay-to, po—tah-to," he countered, now grinning.

She swatted his arm, but she was laughing.

"Hey, what kind of counter-argument is striking your partner?"

"The appropriate response to _your_ counterargument, because pronouncing the name of a common tuber two different ways is hardly a valid…" He was grinning so hugely now that she trailed off, laughing, and got to her feet.

He stood up too, holding his hands out at his sides. "We're okay?"

She hugged him so tightly that the back of his legs banged against the edge of the coffee table at the impact when she launched herself at him. "Yeah. We're okay, Booth."

This time, he really believed her.

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	11. Chapter 11

Author's Note: My mom and I are vegans but my dad isn't. I know there was an episode where Brennan says she's considering becoming a vegetarian but I wasn't sure if she actually is one or not. Just to be safe, she's not eating meat in this chapter. I know she's a vegan in real life, so I figure it's only a matter of time before they incorporate it into the show more.

Also, I'm writing this as fast as I can but I am taking tonight off because Battlestar Galactica is back on tonight!

Ch 11

They had certainly never hugged this long when she wasn't crying before. Finally, she started to pull away when her eyes suddenly went wide.

"What?" he asked, getting worried there was some huge issue that _hadn't _been dragged out and beaten into submission that he'd overlooked.

"I didn't get you anything yet either!" she exclaimed. "I was saving yours until last because you're so hard, and then I got locked onto the whole Zack thing and I forgot…"

He laughed and was so relieved there wasn't anything else wrong at the moment that he hugged her back to him. "Bones, you don't have to get souvenirs for the people you're on vacation _with. _Look, tomorrow we'll all go together, okay, and help you pick out something for Zack. If we see an F.B.I. tee-shirt while we're out, I'll let you buy it for me, okay?"

"FBI? You _have _FBI tee-shirts, Booth, and why would they have FBI tee-shirts at the beach?"

"Female Body Inspector, Bones," he informed her.

She rolled her eyes.

"I don't know what that means."

He would have expected it from her, but for once that statement hadn't come from her. It came from Parker, clearly now awake and watching them in confusion from about ten feet away. They both turned towards him, letting go of each other. "Parker, that is a phrase I do not want to hear out of your mouth again, young man," Booth said, in a mock-stern tone of voice, smiling as he said it.

Brennan was laughing, but Parker clearly didn't get the joke. He did get the look on his dad's face though, and took off running as Booth chased after his son, scooping him up and turning him upside down, holding him securely by the legs and tickling him, as Booth brought Parker back over to the couch and said, over the tickling, "Never, never, never!"

"Why, Daddy, why? It's not a Bad Word like 'hell' or 'damn,'" Parker squealed amongst the laughter.

"Bones, you're turning my son into a squint!" Booth complained dramatically, as Parker squirmed away from him and ran to her to escape his tickling dad.

"His question had nothing to do with science," Brennan said, laughing, as Parker peeked out from behind her at his dad. "I believe he was just as puzzled as I was, as to why you'd want a shirt that said…"

"All right, all right, it was just a joke," Booth said, sitting down on the couch and holding a hand out for Parker.

Parker, laughing, jumped onto the couch next to Booth. "So what _is _a Female Body Inspector, Dad?"

Booth cleared his throat. "Never mind. It's just a bad joke, Parker."

"Oh. Daddy, did you tell Tempe about the you-know-what that I caught?"

"Nope. That's your story, bub, you tell her. Hang on one second though, pal." He ruffled Parker's hair, and looked at his partner again. "On the boat, Parker and I came up with the idea of cooking outside, on the bar-be-cue, tonight. Is that okay with you? I mean, I was going to cook it all. But will you eat it?"

"Sure, that sounds great, Booth. _You've _never cooked dinner for _me _before," she reminded him.

He smiled broadly at the memory of her cooking the best macaroni and cheese he'd ever had, and echoed his words from earlier. "Guess I owe you, then."

She smiled. "I guess you do."

Parker looked back and forth between both of them and rolled his eyes at the way they were looking at each other and smiling hugely and the tones of their voices. "Am I gonna get to tell my story, or are you gonna flit all day?"

They both looked at him. "Flit?" Booth asked, confused.

"Yeah… that's what Miss Angela called it, I think… maybe I got it wrong," Parker said, chewing his lip.

"Oh!" Brennan said, turning pink. Booth looked to her for an explanation. "I think he means 'flirt,'" she explained. "And I've got to kill 'Miss Angela' when we get home."

"I'll help," he said dryly, getting to his feet, but he was still smiling, although a little embarrassed. He decided to turn all of his attention to fixing dinner, and leave the job of translating things Angela said into language Parker understood, then explaining how Angela was _wrong _anyway, to his partner alone.

"Tempe?" Parker prompted after his dad left. "Did I get it wrong?"

"Yes, but it's not your fault," Brennan explained to him. "I'm sure you heard Angela using the term 'flirt' or 'flirting,' but that's because Angela is mistaken when it comes to how your father and I get along with each other."

"Oh. So what does 'flirting' mean, Tempe?"

"Well, in this context, it's sort of like playful joking and teasing, I guess."

He nodded, but then looked confused again. "But… isn't that what you were doing?"

She furrowed her brow, and said, "Technically, perhaps, but that wasn't a precise definition, so no. Flirting usually has a connotation of… if you're interested in somebody romantically, and you're trying to find out if they're interested in you or not, or just getting to know them, or…" she ran out of ideas for how to explain it to him. This wasn't exactly her area of expertise, anyway!

"Oh," Parker said, nodding.

"Your father and I were just joking around like friends," she added quickly. "There's… a difference."

"Oh. Okay."

"So! Tell me about your fishing trip, Parker!" she said enthusiastically, hoping she'd answered the question well enough to get him on a different topic.

"It was AWESOME! I caught an EEL, Tempe! It was HUGE, like a big giant snake! It was all long and skinny, and everyone was surprised! Even the guy who owned the boat, Mike, he said NOBODY ever caught one of those on his boat before, and he didn't want me to bring it onto the boat, so he leaned way over the rail and cut off my line…" Parker was talking as fast as he could, eagerly telling her the story.

She listened attentively, making a mental note to get an alternate version of the story from Booth later, because the longer Parker talked, the more and more exciting and implausible his story became – the eel doubling in size at least three times during the story, for starters.

Parker told her all about the fishing trip, then, after stopping to catch his breath, asked, "What did you do, Tempe, did you go SCUBA diving?"

"No, I didn't really feel like SCUBA diving today," she said lightly. "I decided to go get some souvenirs and look around the town. Would you like to see what I got you?"

"You got me something?" he asked excitedly.

"Yes, I did. Wait here, please."

She quickly retrieved her bags from the back door and brought them back to the living room, setting them all on the coffee table and looking through them. She found the cameras and handed them to Parker.

"Wow, cool! It goes under the water?!?!"

"Yes, it does. Well, this one does. The other two are regular cameras that came with it. I thought you might use the underwater one when you're snorkeling."

"Yeah! I can take pictures and show them to my class at show and tell!"

"That's an excellent idea."

"Thanks, Tempe!" He hugged her tightly, clearly thrilled.

"You're welcome, Parker. I also got you this," she said, showing him the penguin stuffed animal.

"Awesome! I love penguins! I like his funny shirt! I wanna get one just like it; Daddy has one! Thank you!" Hugging the stuffed animal under one arm, he hugged her again with the other arm. "I'm going to sleep with him every night!"

"Aw, I'm glad you like it. Speaking of sleeping… I wanted to talk to you about your bed. Want to come to your room with me for a little bit?" she asked. She couldn't do much at the moment to repay Booth for helping her with her own issues so much earlier, but she'd been wanting to finish resolving Parker's fear of the bunk beds since the night he'd come to her with the nightmare in the first place.

"Okay," he said, looking a little nervous. He took her hand nonetheless and, penguin tucked under his arm, followed her into his room.

She looked at the mattress on the floor and the half-empty bunk bed. Parker, as her suspicions confirmed, had clearly been playing on the empty lower bed frame during the day, as there were several cars and toy dinosaurs lined up on the frame. The top bunk was rumpled enough for her to conclude he'd been up there during the day as well. She climbed the ladder and turned to him. "Coming up?"

He nodded and handed the penguin to her, climbing up the ladder and joining her. She sat with her back against the rail and wall, sideways on the bed. Parker sat next to her, copying her position, and looked at her expectantly. "Parker, you're a very smart little boy."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. Now, I can tell that you've been playing on the bunk beds during the daytime, haven't you?"

"Y-yes," he agreed, nodding.

"Have you been climbing on them?" she asked. At his uncertain look, she added, "You're not in trouble, I promise."

He nodded.

"Have you been jumping on them?"

"Yes."

"How much do you weigh?"

"Um, 41! 41 pounds!"

"And how much do you think I weigh?"

He looked at her thoughtfully. "I dunno, a hundred?" he guessed.

She laughed. "No, more than that. But anyway, my point is, we're both up here on the top bunk right now, and it's perfectly safe, right?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Your dad could get up here too with us and it would still be safe. Do you remember when I checked it for you the night you had a bad dream about the bed breaking?"

He nodded.

"Now, you're a smart boy, Parker. I know you're smart enough to understand that if the bed is sturdy and safe in the daytime, when you're climbing all over it and jumping around playing on it, with me up here with you, that it's also going to be safe when you're sleeping, at night."

He nodded warily.

"Parker, it's okay to be afraid of things," she said gently. "Everybody is afraid of some things. It's even okay to have irrational fears. But I don't want you to be afraid of a bed. Particularly because it's clear that you're not afraid of it during the day."

"What's an irr…irrational fear?"

"A fear that you understand isn't legitimate or realistic, but that scares you nonetheless."

He still looked confused.

"Like snakes, for example," she explained. "I'm afraid of snakes. Even ones that I know aren't poisonous. They still scare me."

"Oh," Parker said, nodding. "You're really afraid of snakes?"

"I really am. Just ask your dad. Last time we saw a bunch of snakes, I knew none of them were poisonous but I still jumped on his back so they couldn't touch me."

Parker laughed and contributed, "My mom's really afraid of spiders. Whenever she sees one I have to come get it for her. I try to catch them and put them outside so they don't have to die."

"That's very sweet, Parker. And smart, because spiders are very good creatures."

"Like Charlotte."

"Hmm?"

"Charlotte's Web."

"Oh, yes. Like that," she agreed, vaguely recalling the story from childhood. "So, you see, sometimes we can't help being afraid of things. But sometimes, we can. And I think this thing with the bunk beds might be one of the times when we can help being afraid of it. What do you think?"

He thought for a minute and asked, "Tempe? When you sang to me, but you didn't want to because it made you think of Daddy getting shot, were you afraid? Did it help you to not be afraid, when you sang anyway?"

"Yes, Parker. That is a perfect example of what I was trying to explain," she said, proud of his reasoning and understanding. She hugged him into her side. "And it did help, even though I was nervous at first."

"I used to be scared to jump off the diving board at my swim class, but now I do it all the time."

"Well, if you can jump off a diving board, I think you can sleep in your bunk bed tonight, Parker. But if you're still scared, maybe you should sleep over there, on the pallet on the floor, one more night, and I'll sleep up here. Then in the morning, when you wake up and see that I survived the night, maybe you won't be afraid anymore," she suggested.

He thought for a moment and shook his head. "I can do it tonight, Tempe," he decided firmly. "By myself. And if I get scared, I'll hug my new penguin and be brave."

"That's a good idea, Parker. But if you do get scared, you can still come get me. I'll stay in here with you if you change your mind, okay?"

"Okay. Thanks, Tempe."

"You're welcome, Parker. Want me to put your mattress back on the bottom bunk now?"

"Yeah. I'll help! Hey, after we get it back together, can you help me make a fort?"

"Sure, Parker. Whatever you want."

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Booth had dinner nearly ready, and hadn't seen or heard from his partner or son in some time. He got to a stopping point and went inside, surprised when they weren't in the living room. Laughing from Parker's bedroom sent him that direction, and he laughed as he saw a meticulously constructed fort in the bottom half of the bunk, made out of several blankets – she'd gotten him to put the bed back together, he noticed proudly.

A flashlight was randomly flitting around on the blanket, from the inside, and Parker was laughing. When he stopped, Booth heard his partner's voice. "Harry learned quickly not to feel sorry for the gnomes. He decided to just drop the first one just over the hedge, but the gnome, sensing weakness, sank his razor sharp teeth into Harry's finger and he had a hard job shaking it off until.."

"Boo!" Booth yelled, sticking his head between the blankets.

Parker shrieked, the sound louder than usual in the small space, and nearly kicked his dad in the face, but Booth grabbed the foot just in time to stop it connecting with his jaw. Brennan jumped and swatted him with the book in her hands instinctively. "Ow! Sorry, Bones, geez, relax!" Booth said, laughing and grabbing the book. He glanced at the cover. "Ah, suckered her into reading you one of your long books. Nice, Park."

Parker grinned sheepishly. "Look at the fort we made, Daddy! And I'm gonna sleep in it tonight, all by myself, and not be scared anymore!"

"Wow, good for you, buddy. Do you want to eat dinner first, or were you planning to go straight to bed?" he asked, tickling his stomach.

Parker laughed and squirmed. "Eat, eat! I'm hungry!"

"Come on then. Wash your hands and come on; we're eating outside."

Parker climbed out of the bed eagerly. Booth helped Brennan out, smiling at her. "Thanks for fixing that, however you did it."

She shrugged. "I tried to reason with him just after the nightmare but it didn't seem to be working. I probably should have done it the next day…"

"Ah, it's a vacation, there's no rush on anything. Except for dinner. Come on."

"Let me get cleaned up first."

He nodded and went back outside, putting the final items on the grill. Parker wandered outside first, standing on his tiptoes to look at the trays of things he'd already prepared. "Wow, Daddy!"

"Go sit down at the table, buddy, this is hot," Booth said, nudging him gently away from the bar-be-cue.

The sun was going down and it was getting cooler outside. Brennan, after checking outside, gathered drinks for everyone and joined them outside.

"Wow, Booth," she said as she saw the tray of vegetable and potato skewers he had made. There was another tray of hot dogs and hamburgers, and… "Are those veggie burgers?" she asked.

"Yeah. Just the frozen kind, is that okay?"

"Yes, thank you," she said, surprised. Booth had given her a lot of grief when she had decided to become a vegetarian some time ago, but she knew he'd made the vegetable skewers and the veggie burgers just for her. She kissed him on the cheek and took the bowl of potato chips he'd been snacking on over to the table.

Booth flipped the last burger onto the tray and brought everything over. Parker already had a hot dog bun open, ready, and waiting, with ketchup on one side and mustard on the other. Booth laughed and served him first.

The meal was wonderful, and everyone was joking and talking and laughing. Booth knew a lot of that was due to the fact that they'd finally had the conversations they'd had, both the night before and during the afternoon.

Parker was full of questions about tomorrow's impending parasailing excursion, and had moved off of dolphins as a research topic and was now onto penguins and sharks, which Brennan didn't know as much about as dolphins. She still knew enough to impress Parker, apparently. He had christened his stuffed penguin "Dude" and placed it at the empty seat at the table while they ate.

After dinner, Parker wanted to go swimming again. Since it was almost completely dark, Booth told him it wasn't safe to swim in the ocean and he'd have to swim in the pool. That was fine with Parker, because he loved the thought of swimming at night with the lights underneath the water of the pool making the water look "awesome," as he put it.

Booth and Brennan were making trips in and out of the house to bring in all of the things from outside and put them away or in the dishwasher while Parker changed into a swimsuit. Brennan was on the way back outside when she stopped, watching Booth. He clearly thought he was still alone; he had set down the empty platter he'd been carrying and was trying to stretch his back out a little bit at a time.

"I _knew _your back was killing you," she offered.

He jerked around at the sound of her voice so fast that he winced in pain. "Well, _now _it does, after that!"

Ignoring that, she stated simply, "Your levator scapulae and trapezius muscles were already sore, probably from wrestling around with Parker and the flight you took off your wave runner the other day, and about two hours after you came back from running yesterday your deltoids, lattimus dorsi, biceps femoris, and…"

"Okay, okay, I'm sore. Thanks for the newsflash," he grumbled. He wasn't really annoyed, but sometimes it did irk him a bit that she could just look at him and know what was wrong with him.

"I _was _bringing it up to say that if you want, I'll help Parker with his snorkeling so _you _can go use the whirlpool tub in my bathroom, but if you're going to be grumpy about it…"

"No! I mean, thanks. That'd be great. Sorry."

"That's quite all right," she said, a bit formally.

It suddenly occurred to him that he was acting defensive for her noticing his physical condition, yet he pushed past those same defensive walls when she was trying to put them up to stop him from noticing her emotional condition. In light of everything they'd talked about earlier, he suddenly felt ashamed of his reaction.

"I really am sorry," he repeated sincerely.

She nodded.

He bit his lip for a moment and then said, "So, wonder what's taking Parker so long."

"I heard him say something about looking for diving toys."

"Oh. So, um, want to show me how this magical bathtub of yours works?" he asked hopefully, grabbing the last remnants of their meal to bring inside on the last trip through the kitchen.

She led the way to the bathroom she'd been using, which did indeed have quite a large tub with lots of wonderfully inviting looking jets. "I haven't actually used it this time," she said after switching the water on, nodding towards the separate shower to indicate what she'd been using instead. "But I used it a lot last time I was here."

He was both mildly amused and mildly concerned at how quickly she was moving around the bathroom – which was large, for a bathroom at a beach house, but still a relatively small room for such quick movements, it seemed. While the tub filled, she checked the temperature at least four times, got him every sized towel he could possibly find a use for and positioned them around the edge of the tub, moved the bath mat from in front of the shower to in front of the tub, and demanded to see the sunburn she "knew he was trying to hide" before she'd "let him get into water that hot."

He was too taken aback by the fact that she was treating the bath like it was a dangerous, but highly urgent surgery or something to consider disobeying that order, and had taken off his shirt quickly before she could decide he wasn't moving fast enough and taken over that as well.

She finally slowed down when she moved behind him and started rubbing aloe vera into his shoulders and back, and he finally had time to recover from the shock of her sudden audition for Keystone Kops. Then, he realized two things at once. One was that aloe vera was his burnt shoulders' and back's new best friend, but the sunburn was totally worth it if it would mean she'd be rubbing that stuff on him more than once. Two was that she was trying, in her own way, to reciprocate.

He was better with feelings and people. They'd been in his territory earlier today. He'd been able to help her. The body was her territory. So she was using his sunburn and sore muscles – completely subconsciously, he was entirely certain of that – to try to reciprocate for earlier.

Once he made that realization (after mentally patting himself on the back for doing so), he offered no objections as she continued to act like she was running some kind of quick-service health spa out of her bathroom. She finished putting aloe vera everywhere he was pink, she checked the water temperature again, she brought him a bottle of water in case he started to get too warm in the tub, she turned off most of the lights to a more 'relaxing' level, and asked if he wanted anything to read.

Shaking his head and unable to keep the amused smile off his face, he was wondering how much more she could find to fuss over before he'd actually have to get _in _the tub, when she went over to the controls for the jets, which were (somewhat annoyingly) on the wall about ten feet away from the tub. Because apparently the idea that someone _in _the tub might want to be able to work the controls hadn't occurred to whoever had installed the thing.

She had her hand on the dials and was clearly waiting for him to get in the tub. No amount of desire to humor her however was going to get him to pull off his shorts in front of her. No way. Not like this. They were weirdly co-dependent and probably a lot of dysfunctional other things already, without adding nakedness to it.

"Bones, come on."

That got her attention a bit, at least. Rolling her eyes, she said, "I'll turn around while you get in."

"Turn the jets on first," he stipulated.

She nodded and turned the dial. The tub bubbled to life with its customary noises. She had turned around, and he was just about to drop his pants when Parker called, "Tempe! Daddy!! Where ARE you guys?"

She switched the jets off so they could hear better and called back, "In here, Parker!"

Booth tugged his shorts all the way back on just as he heard Parker, more clearly now without the interfering noise of the tub. "I found 'em, they're in Tempe's bathroom…"

Booth groaned. It sounded like Parker was talking to someone. Booth really, really hoped it was the stuffed penguin.

"… I dunno… I dunno, I guess… nope, only last night, we _all _slept together, Miss Angela…" Parker's innocent voice continued, growing louder and (at least in Booth's imagination) more ominous.

At the name, Brennan groaned, just as Parker appeared in the doorway, holding Brennan's cell phone to his ear. "Hi," he said brightly to both of them. "I was looking for you guys and your phone was ringing so I went to bring it to you and it said it was Miss Angela on the screen, and I was afraid if I didn't answer it would stop ringing because it was ringing for a really long time, so I answered, even though Daddy said not to answer the phone unless you have permission," Parker said quickly, looking scared now that he saw how they were both looking at him. Maybe he shouldn't have answered the phone after all.

But after recovering from the initial surprise, Brennan smiled at him. "Thank you, Parker."

He grinned at her, and apparently Angela was chattering to him in his ear as well, because he said, "I found her, Miss Angela, but hang on a second please." He put the phone to his shoulder like he'd seen grown ups doing when they wanted the person on the phone not to hear while they talked to someone else. "Are you guys taking a bath now?" he asked, clearly disappointed. "I thought we were going night-time swimming."

He frowned down at his swim trunks. He had a mesh bag of pool toys hanging off the crook of his elbow too.

"We are," Brennan promised him. "But I'm going to go with you while your dad's in here, if that's okay with you."

"Okay," he agreed.

"Let me talk to Angela first though, please, Parker."

"Oh, I forgot!" he laughed, putting the phone back to his ear. "Bye, Miss Angela, here's Tempe!" He passed it to her cheerfully, oblivious to the amount of unending torture he had unwittingly just inflicted upon her.

She took the phone gingerly, as though it were a rotting severed limb, and didn't put it to her ear right away, prolonging the inevitable just a bit longer. She switched the jets back on for Booth, gave him an apologetic smile and a shrug.

He mouthed, "Sorry" so Parker wouldn't hear.

She nodded and put the phone to her ear with a pre-emptive wince, guiding Parker out of the bathroom and shutting the door quietly behind herself. "Angela. Wonderful timing, as always, you've managed to hear something that I'm sure sounds very interesting to you but that I can assure you is in no way whatever you're thinking right now," she started quickly, letting Parker drag her by the hand through her room.

"Oh, I'm _sure _there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for why you and Booth are taking a bath together…"

Brennan pulled the phone away to let Angela get it all out of her system at once and smiled at Parker. "I need to put my swimsuit back on, Parker, can you please go wait in the living room for a few minutes?"

He shrugged and left. As she grabbed the suit, which she'd left drying, hanging off the closet doorknob, she put the phone back to her ear. "Ange…"

"…Well, this at least explains why you didn't answer!" Angela was saying. "I've been trying to return your call since this afternoon, sweetie, what exactly have _you _been up to all day? You sounded serious on your message this morning, Bren. I was getting worried. Tell me I was worried for nothing."

"You were. Well, not exactly. I had a… crisis, of sorts, today. But it's okay now, really. Everything's fine here now, I'm sorry I scared you," she said as she started changing into her suit.

"Does that mean you acknowledged that I was right about the reasons behind Booth's beach marathon the other day?" Angela asked.

"What? Oh, that! I haven't even thought about that all day, Ange." Not entirely true; she _had _been thinking about that and all things related, or potentially related, very early in the morning, which was the reason she'd called Angela in the first place. But since the shopping trip, at least, it was true.

"Uh-huh. Then if Parker was accurate in that he found you two in the bathroom, and it's also true that you haven't thought about that all day, you have _serious _problems, Bren. Way beyond my area of expertise. Because having hunky FBI Agent trapped in your bathroom with you while you draw up a bubble bath should be something that gets your blood pumping, sweetie…"

"Angela!" Brennan interrupted. "It's not a bubble bath! It's just a jaccuzzi, and it's strictly for therapeutic purposes! Booth has several sore muscles because he's been…"

"Yawn. There are so many, many things I need to explain to you, grasshopper."

"Why are you calling me 'grasshopper?'"

"Ask Booth. And never mind."

"Angela, I really appreciate you calling me back, but I promise you, I'm fine. And I can't really talk right now, okay, I promised Parker I'd help him with his snorkeling and it's getting late already."

"Awww… okay, well, in that case I'll let you go. Reluctantly. But I want a return call ASAP, Bren. When you have plenty of time to tell me enough details about what's been going on down there so that I, in turn, can tell you what's _really _been going on down there and, more importantly, what _should _be going on down there. And if you can't get enough privacy there for a long juicy phone call without FBI Agents jumping into your bathtub or your _bed, _if the little Booth is reporting his facts accurately, then send me an e-mail."

"All right," Brennan agreed reluctantly, hanging up.

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	12. Chapter 12

Ch 12

Brennan watched Parker splashing around in the pool in front of her, flippers on his feet and snorkel and mask on his face. He was a decent swimmer and was probably very good for his age, she thought. But he was having a little trouble with the snorkeling concept, and she had been wondering why as she watched him practicing from farther off from time to time over the past few days.

Getting an idea, she swam closer to him and held her hand over the top of the snorkel, a few inches above it so she could feel the air coming out the top. Her suspicions confirmed, she stood up; they were in the shallow end of the pool, and it only reached halfway up her chest.

"Parker! Stop for a second!" He couldn't hear her, obviously. She tapped him on the shoulder and grabbed him around the waist, lifting him up out of the water.

He went still and looked at her in confusion through his mask. It was easy to keep him above the water with one arm, so she pulled his mask up onto his forehead to see his face.

"What did I do wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing, you're doing very well," she said encouragingly. "But I think you're having the same problem I had when I first started SCUBA lessons."

"I am?" he asked, looking rather impressed.

She nodded. "Here, take a break for a moment so you can listen." She carried him to the side of the pool and lifted him onto the edge, sitting him down.

He shivered almost immediately; it was much cooler at night. "Too cold," he complained, leaning back over and reaching for her.

She pulled him back into the pool and held him to her with one arm so he didn't have to split his concentration between listening and swimming. "You're using a lot of your energy up because you're breathing very, very rapidly through your snorkel," she explained. "I did the same thing; I was burning through the supply in my air tanks nearly three times as fast as I should have been. It's scary at first, to breathe through the tube. You have to sort of… train your brain to trust that the air will be there when you need it; that you don't need to gulp it all down at once. Your body is trained to do that when you're under water, because your body knows you can't breathe underwater. It's… hard to explain."

"Breathe slower."

"Yes. I think it might help if we get you swimming a little slower for a bit while you practice just the breathing part, so let's put your floaties back on so you don't have to work so hard to stay afloat."

"But I can do it without floaties," Parker insisted.

"I know you can, sweetie, but if you go snorkeling in the ocean you'll have a life jacket on anyway. It's not because you can't swim without them."

"Okay," he agreed a bit reluctantly. She got the floaties that had been lying abandoned near the shower, and slid them up his arms. He put his mask back on and waited for instruction.

She held her hand above the snorkel and said, "Try to breathe slowly."

He obeyed, and breathed slowly and evenly for several moments, until she let go of him gently, only holding him by the elbow to help keep him in place. The floaties and his flippers made it easy for him to stay above water, but immediately she could tell he was breathing harder again.

She pulled him back to her and said, "Hmm, how are we going to do this? Let's see…"

After a couple of failed attempts, she found something that seemed to be working. She had him floating on his stomach in front of her, being as still as he could be, with his face in the water. She kept him from floating away with one arm and kept checking his breathing with the other hand. Once he got used to the sensation of being face down in the water for long periods of time without struggling for breath, she let him start kicking slowly.

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When Booth went looking for him after finishing his bath, he was surprised that they were still in the pool. The air was chilly outside and it was very dark, although the cold might have been hitting him more because he had been in a very hot tub for forty-five minutes.

There was a lot of splashing going on in the pool, but he could clearly see, from the doorway that led to the pool, that they were swimming back and forth along the length of the pool, Brennan swimming backwards, on her back, pulling Parker along by the hands while he kicked and used his snorkel. Now that he saw them doing it that way, the technique seemed so obvious he wondered why he hadn't thought of that days ago.

He watched them do a few lengths of the pool, then stop. She picked him up for a few moments to let him rest, then said, "Ready to try it by yourself?"

He pushed his mask up onto his forehead and looked nervous.

"You can do it, Parker, you're ready. Just remember to count while you breathe, and go slowly. I know there's not a lot to look at in the pool, but when you're in the ocean, there will be so many things for you to see that you won't _want_ to go fast."

"Okay," he said, still sounding a little nervous.

She must've spotted Booth lurking in the doorway, because she said something quietly to Parker, and he turned towards him quickly and waved. "Hi, Daddy! I'm snorkeling way better!"

"I see, buddy, good job!"

"Watch, I can do it by myself now without hyper… hyper…"

"Hyperventilating," Brennan supplied gently.

"Yeah. Hyper-vent-lating," Parker repeated. "Anyway, watch, Dad!" He pulled his mask back down determinedly, nodding at the instructions being quietly reminded to him as Brennan helped him pull off his floaties.

She let go of him and they both watched him swim the length of the pool by himself. He floundered a bit at first but then must have remembered what to do, because he was soon swimming along, smoothly. He turned around at the wall and came back to her, throwing his arms around her excitedly and pulling his mask off as she lifted him up by the armpits.

"Good job, Parker, you're not even out of breath!"

"I counted the whole time, Tempe, I did it!" Grinning and just about bursting with pride, he turned to his dad. "I did it, Daddy! Did you see?"

"Yes, I did, Parker, great job! That's awesome! I think it's way past bedtime now though, buddy."

"Aww… I wanted to learn how to dive and come back up and keep breathing."

"That's much trickier, Parker, we might need to do that tomorrow," Brennan told him.

"Okay," he agreed reluctantly.

"Aren't you guys cold?" Booth asked, bringing over their towels as she boosted Parker up out of the pool.

"Yup!" Parker said with a grin as Booth wrapped a towel around his shoulders. Brennan got out of the pool too, taking the towel he handed her with a teeth-chattering thank you.

"It's not too cold until you get _out _of the water," she said as Booth rubbed Parker's arms through the towel.

They all hurried inside, Brennan heading straight for a hot shower, while Booth helped Parker get ready for bed, deciding he could just take a bath tomorrow. It was a vacation, after all, and late, and Parker was tired, but excited over his snorkeling success. Booth listened to his son recounting the lesson in detail while he helped him into his pajamas and helped him brush his teeth.

As Booth tucked Parker into bed – on the bottom bunk, tonight – he asked casually, "What were you talking to Angela about, buddy?"

He shrugged. "She just asked me a bunch of questions, like were we having fun, what were we doing and everything. Oh, and she wanted to know if you guys were kissing and hugging each other and sleeping together."

Booth's eyes widened. "What did you tell her?"

"I told her the truth, Daddy," Parker said, clearly puzzled. "I saw you guys hugging a few times, and we all slept in Tempe's room last night because of her bad dream… why? Why does Miss Angela care where we sleep?"

"Uh, she's just funny like that, Parks. Do you need some water before bed?"

"Nope. Where's Dude?" Parker asked suddenly, looking around.

"You left him on the couch. I'll go get him, buddy, you stay here."

Parker nodded. Booth hurried out to collect the stuffed penguin and took it back to Parker, who hugged it to his side happily and said, "This is the most funnest vacation ever, Daddy. And we haven't even gone parasailing yet!"

"Tomorrow, bub. I'm glad you're having a good time."

"I'm glad you're having a good time too, Daddy. It's a good thing Tempe came, huh?"

"Yes, it is. But why do you say that?"

He shrugged. "You have more fun when she's around."

"Aw, Park. I would have had a wonderful time if it was just the two of us. We had fun on the boat today, didn't we?"

Parker nodded. "Yes. But it's okay, Daddy. I want you to have a lot of fun too. I love you."

"I love you too, buddy. You're the best little boy in the world, you know that, right?"

Parker nodded and held his arms out for a hug. Booth leaned over and hugged him, kissing his head and sitting up carefully so as not to bang his head on the underside of the top bunk.

He pulled the covers up a little higher around his son and said, "Sweet dreams, Parker. I'll see you in the morning, okay?"

He nodded and, when Booth got up to leave, asked, "Is Tempe going to come in and say goodnight too?"

It occurred to him for the first time, then, that his son had quickly become at least as attached to his partner as he was. He couldn't blame the boy for that, but for the first time it scared him a little, because he was fairly certain that his son was not currently capable of understanding the complexity of the relationship he and his partner shared. How could he? Booth himself didn't understand it half the time, because sometimes, like now, on this trip together, everything seemed alarmingly simple and easy. Yet when they got back to their everyday lives, the complexities would emerge again, the next time she said she couldn't have dinner with him because she was dating a fireman or a paleontologist or an old professor, or whoever it was at the moment, the next time Sweets touched a nerve with one of them in "couples therapy," the next time her brother or her father showed up, the next time one of them got hurt in the line of duty…

"Daddy?" Parker prompted, interrupting his musings.

"Sorry, buddy. I'll go see if she's done with her shower."

"Thanks." Parker smiled.

Booth returned the smile and left the door partially open. He headed towards his partner's room and stopped outside the door, listening for sounds of the shower being on. He didn't hear any, so he knocked on the cracked door. She opened the door almost immediately, hairbrush in hand, wet hair halfway combed out, in her pajamas and an untied robe.

"Parker wants to say goodnight," he said quickly.

"Okay." She squeezed past him in the doorway and headed off to say goodnight to Parker.

Booth went into the living room, thought about turning on the television, but didn't, sinking down into a corner of the couch instead.

She came back out soon, sat down at the other end of the couch, and finished combing out her hair. He watched her, simultaneously fascinated by it but also miles away, thoughts wandering aimlessly.

"Booth?" she prompted. She was giving him an amused look. "Did the bath work? Does your back feel okay now? Do you want more aloe vera?"

He had a sudden image of her straddling him and rubbing his back and pushed it firmly out of his mind, a voice in his head that sounded annoyingly like his partner pointing out, as he willed the thought aside, that he could not have possibly seen her from that angle anyway, if he'd been lying on the floor on his stomach…

"No! I'm fine, thanks. It's much better now. Your magic bathtub worked great."

She rolled her eyes and couldn't resist pointing out, "There's no such thing as magic."

"Says the woman who was reading Harry Potter to my son earlier."

"Fantasy in fiction is good for children, Booth. It's allegorical; it can explore concepts in a safe environment that…"

"Yeah, yeah," he said, waving his hand in the air. "So you're not going to burst his bubble about Hogwarts yet?"

"Of course not!"

"Thanks."

"You're welcome." She smiled at him for what seemed like a long time, then looked away suddenly and said, "Um, don't you want to watch television?"

"We could do something else, if you'd rather," he suggested.

"Like… talk?" she asked, looking uncertain at the prospect.

"If you want. Is there something else you wanted to talk about?"

"No," she said quickly. "I mean… no. I feel much better about everything we talked about earlier, and… to be honest, I think I'm kind of talked out for one day."

He nodded, understanding what she meant. "Want to play cards?" he suggested.

"I don't know that many games…"

"What games do you know?" he asked, going over to the cabinet under the television, where there were a few games and a bunch of DVDs.

"Um, I learned black jack when we were in Vegas. Rus and I used to play concentration; I always won."

"Yeah, and you'd win hands down now too. What else?"

"Gin. Slap jack…"

"Excellent! We'll play slap jack."

She rolled her eyes, but she was smiling and sitting up. "Booth, that's not really fair. I'm sure as a former Ranger you have much more finely honed reflexes than I do…"

"How many black belts do you have?" he asked dismissively, sitting down on the edge of the sofa and shuffling the cards. "Come on, you'll more than hold your own." He didn't mention the fact that he was quite certain she would slap his hand as hard as she could, holding nothing back, whereas he knew he wouldn't be able to stop himself from pulling back a bit.

"All right, fine. Just deal."

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"That one's mine!"

"No way, Booth! Half my fingers are under yours!"

"And half of mine are under yours!" he countered.

They were squared off, leaning in towards each other slightly, having a silent standoff as they'd had any number of times during cases… over a messy pile of cards with the jack of hearts on top.

After it became clear neither was going to concede, Booth offered, "Leave it? Next winner takes all?"

She nodded and they released the cards at the same time, both hands retreating to their own stacks slowly. They flipped over six more cards together, then both turned up a jack at the same time. It was clear who got there first this time, but the victory was somewhat stunted. "Ouch! Bones! Did you have to hit the back of my hand so hard?"

"Sorry," she said automatically, not sounding sorry in the least.

"Uh-huh," he said doubtfully. "You want a rematch, or are you willing to admit defeat?"

"No."

He laughed. "No to both?"

"Yes. I do not admit defeat, but I do not want a rematch at the moment."

"Okay. What would you like to do, then?"

She shrugged and got up to look through the DVD selection. Booth was always teasing her about her lack of pop culture knowledge. She picked up a movie that looked interesting and started reading the back cover.

"Oh come on, that doesn't even count, that movie's almost 60 years old!"

"You've seen it?"

"A long time ago."

"Want to watch it again?"

"Sure," he shrugged.

She put it into the DVD player and sat down next to him on the couch. "The Philadelphia Story… did you have to watch this in school when you were a child in Pennsylvania?" she asked as the title screen came on.

He laughed. "No, it's not really that kind of a movie. But I think you'll like it. There's a very opinionated woman at the center of it," he said, nudging her shoulder.

She rolled her eyes, but she was laughing, and she scooted a little closer to him and rested her cheek on his shoulder as the movie started.

They were both enjoying the movie, but as it neared the end, Booth realized he was the only one still laughing quietly out loud. He looked down at the top of her head and couldn't tell whether or not she was awake. "Bones?" he tried quietly.

She moved a little and mumbled, "What?"

"Nothing." He rubbed her arm. "Go back to sleep."

"Night, Booth."

He smiled, suddenly now more awake because she was asleep. It was the first time she'd fallen asleep before him.

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	13. Chapter 13

Author's Note: I'm really, really annoyed right now because my computer messed up and lost chapter 14, which I was ALMOST done with. I was able to recover the parts of the rest of this story that I had written way before I started posting it, but most of chapter 14 is still gone. It will probably take me a few days to re-write it and post it. Sorry for the impending delay. Thank you all for reading and reviewing. I can't believe I've got more than 100 reviews on this story and it's not even over!

Ch 13

When Booth woke up in the morning, it took him a moment to process where he was. He was still on the sofa, with his partner, who was apparently still asleep. He knew they'd fallen asleep partly upright, but they'd clearly made themselves more comfortable in the night, somehow. He was certainly _too _comfortable at the moment. He was on his back, Brennan on her side, wedged between the back of the couch and him, draped halfway across him with an arm across his middle and a leg between his, her head pillowed on his shoulder, breathing slowly against his neck.

She was soft and warm everywhere she was touching him, and everywhere he was touching her too. He swallowed guiltily as he realized where his hands were. Both arms were around her and, while one hand was tangled in her hair, the other one seemed to be perfectly cupping her left buttock. Stifling the laugh that threatened to burst out as he imagined how very different the situation would be if they were both awake, or if she'd woken up first, he quickly slid his hand up to more neutral territory, thankful for small favors.

The blanket she'd been curled under during the movie was around their ankles, so he tried to tell himself they'd migrated this close together for warmth in their sleep, even though it was a comfortable seventy-two in the room. He closed his eyes, even though he highly doubted he'd be able to fall back asleep after waking up like this. But there was simply no way for him to get up without waking her. And, he had to admit he was interested in seeing _her _reaction to their current positions when she did inevitably wake up.

He figured he might as well enjoy it while it lasted.

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Parker woke up and hurried to the bathroom, thinking excitedly that today was the day they were going parasailing. He knew it wasn't until after lunch, but he was still excited to get the day started so they could get to it faster.

He hurried to his dad's room, holding his penguin at his side by one wing, and saw that he wasn't in there. Picking up the pace, he was on his way to check Brennan's room next when he saw them both sleeping on the couch.

He approached quietly and was trying to decide whether or not to wake his dad up when Booth cracked an eye open and smiled at him. "Hi," he whispered very quietly.

Parker waved in response and shuffled closer to his dad, leaning over to whisper in his ear without waking Brennan. "Why are you sleeping out here, Daddy? Did Tempe have another bad dream?"

Booth shook his head and whispered, "We fell asleep watching a movie last night, bub. You okay?"

Parker nodded. "Can I have a leftover hot dog for breakfast?" he asked hopefully.

Booth groaned slightly. It sounded revolting to him, but he nodded. Parker ran off to the kitchen happily to assemble the hot dog for himself, and came back, cold hot dog in one hand and penguin in the other. He sat down on the edge of the coffee table, facing them.

Even though he knew they hadn't done anything wrong, Booth was starting to get uncomfortable lying there with his partner with Parker watching him solemnly, calmly eating his "breakfast."

Booth nodded to the remote on the table and said, "You can watch cartoons, bub. But turn it down."

Parker grinned and turned his attention to the television.

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When Brennan woke up, it was to the unfamiliar sounds of a cartoon show turned down very low. She opened her eyes and saw Parker lying on the floor on his stomach in front of the television, chin propped up in his hands. Next realized that her left hand was lying on top of Booth's bandage, because the rest of her was also lying on top of Booth – or at least, half on top of him. Her initial feeling of surprise and mild embarrassment deepened tenfold when she thought of Angela and all the squeals of delight followed by many colorful suggestions that Angela would have if she ever found out about this.

She lifted her head cautiously to check if he was awake and wasn't surprised to see his eyes already open and looking at her, eyes twinkling, smiling warmly, just the faintest hint of a smirk in the corners of his smile.

She returned the smile somewhat sheepishly and sat up.

He followed suit and said, "Parks, you can turn it up now."

He turned to them and grinned at Brennan. "Morning, Tempe! I can fix you breakfast, if you want," he offered, scrambling to his feet.

Booth coughed into his hand to cover a laugh and said, "I don't think she wants cold leftover hot dogs for breakfast, buddy."

Brennan raised an eyebrow at that, glad that he'd intervened, and said, "I'm not very hungry, Parker. I think I'll just have some toast and coffee."

"Oh, okay. Then can we go to the beach this morning?" he asked. "You promised to take me in the kayak today, remember, Tempe?"

"That's right, I did."

"Let her have some coffee first, buddy," Booth laughed, ruffling his son's hair affectionately on his way to the kitchen. "Just watch the rest of your show, then we'll get dressed."

In the kitchen, they both ate their small breakfasts and drank their coffee in mostly comfortable silence, occasionally interrupted by slightly embarrassed glances in the other person's direction. When Parker came into the kitchen in his swimsuit, carrying the sunscreen hopefully, Brennan smiled at him and went to get up, but Booth stopped her with a hand on her arm lightly. "I'll take him out there now; you take your time."

She nodded and sat back down. Booth swung Parker up and flipped him upside down, carrying him out of the room like that, Parker giggling as they left. She watched them go in amusement and poured herself another cup of coffee.

Within five minutes, both Booths were outside and she had the house to herself. She watched them through a window, long enough to see that they were still starting the day off relatively slowly, building a sand castle as opposed to racing around in the sand chasing each other.

She finished her coffee leisurely and went to get dressed to join them. Idly thinking that 'dressed' wasn't exactly the appropriate word, since nearly every day of their vacation had started off by putting on a swimsuit, she went into her bedroom and a sudden thought occurred to her. Hurrying into the bathroom, she grabbed the swimsuit she had hung in the shower to dry and groaned. It wasn't dry yet, still damp from her night-time swim lesson with Parker.

She did not like putting on a cold, damp swimsuit. Sighing, she resigned herself to the fact that she was going to have to wear one of the swimsuits Angela had stuck in her bag today. She went over to her dresser and pulled them out, spreading them on the foot of the bed side by side. There were three of them, and she doubted that even collectively they had as much fabric as the one hanging in her shower.

One of the tops seemed to consist of nothing more than two red triangles and a couple of strings, and the matching bottom wasn't much better. That one got quickly shoved back into the drawer. The other two weren't quite as bad. One of them looked like a regular underwire bra with matching underwear, black with a pattern of tiny butterflies. The other one was a halter top and bottom with big blue Hawaiian flowers and red piping. She grabbed that one after debating for a few minutes, and went into the bathroom to put it on.

She surveyed herself critically in the mirror once she had it on, reminding herself to kill Angela when she got home. Again. She'd definitely be needing more sunscreen today. She pulled her hair up into a ponytail quickly and grabbed her towel. She'd have to join them outside sooner or later. The longer she stayed inside, the more Booth would realize how uncomfortable she was with the current swimsuit situation. That would, in turn, give him the chance to make her even more uncomfortable.

But there was a chance here, if she acted like there was absolutely nothing out of the ordinary about today, from the time she woke up to now, for _him _to be the uncomfortable one. The noticeably uncomfortable one, anyway.

Reminding herself that he was usually the one who got uncomfortable when she was too blunt about either of their bodies or anything having to do with anybody being naked or any level of naked, she congratulated herself on psyching herself up for the day as she grabbed her sunglasses and headed out to the beach.

Booth and Parker were sitting in the sand, working on a sand castle between them. Booth looked up from his task as a shadow was cast over their half-constructed castle and raised both eyebrows, wondering exactly why his partner was standing in front of him with her back to him, so he was just slightly below eye-level with her bikini-bottom clad butt. Feeling his cheeks turn pink as he remembered how he'd woken up that morning, he glanced up and saw her twisting to look down at him. She looked mildly amused and mildly impatient.

"I need help. Sunscreen," she pointed out.

"Oh. Yeah. Of course." He brushed the sand off his hands as he stood up, grabbing the sunscreen. "Nice suit," he mumbled as he smeared sunscreen all over her back and started rubbing it in as quickly as possible.

"Blame Angela," he heard her mutter as she turned around and he saw the suit from the front for the first time.

"I'll do that," he heard himself answering, although in his head he had replaced 'blame' with 'thank.'

"Booth?" she prompted after a few moments, tugging the sunscreen bottle out of his hands gently. "I think I can do the rest by myself, thanks." She brushed him lightly as she passed him on her way to one of the chairs.

He tried to turn his attention back to Parker and the sand castle, deliberately sitting so that his back was to her and he couldn't see her putting the sunscreen on the rest of all that exposed skin.

Well, he thought as he got ready to try to add a second story to the castle. She's wearing that today. Just get used to it.

"Daaaaaaaaaaaaad," Parker whined, clapping a head to his forehead.

Booth looked down at his hands in confusion and saw that he'd effectively just demolished the entire sand castle. "Oops. Sorry, Parker. I'll fix it."

"That's okay," Parker decided with a shrug, getting to his feet. He trampled through the remnants of the castle and said, "Race you to the water, Dad!"

Booth let him get a good head start, and took off after him.

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After having another water wrestling match with his dad, Parker got both adults to play Frisbee with him, turning it into a monkey-in-the-middle game of sorts. Both of the adults were trying to pour all of their attention onto Parker, in a rather transparent and feeble attempt to keep it off of each other.

The morning passed quickly as they played on the beach. When Parker tired of running around in the sand and splashing in the waves, he started begging to go on the kayak and ran up to the patio to fetch the life jackets.

While he was out of earshot, Booth turned to his partner. "I can take him, Bones. He's going to be dead weight; I wouldn't even give him an oar unless we want to lose your security deposit. That's an unwieldy kayak for one person to steer alone."

"I can handle it, Booth; it's not like he adds much weight even as 'dead weight.'"

"I'm not saying you can't handle it," he insisted.

"I wouldn't take him if he wasn't safe, Booth," she said defensively, crossing her arms.

"Dammit, Bones, I know that! I wasn't saying that at all! Fine, take him if that's what you want to do!"

Confused, she watched him stalk back over to the chairs and flop down on one of them. Before she could decide what to do, Parker ran over, his own lifejacket already on, carrying hers, grinning hugely. "Come on, Tempe!"

She took the life jacket and pulled it on, went over to where the kayak was beached, flipped it over, grabbed the oar, and started pushing it towards the water. Parker followed her into the water and when he was knee deep, she helped him into the front seat and guided his hands to the hand grips on the side. She pushed it out a little further and climbed in carefully, then used the oar to punt them out deeper.

Parker was keeping a close lookout for sea turtles, dolphins, or sharks, convincing himself he had spotted all of them several times only to be disappointed. He was having a great time. So was Brennan, although she hated to admit that Booth had been right. After a while, her arms started to burn. She was good at rowing, but her previous experience was either rowing with larger groups, or by herself in a kayak or other boat meant for one person to maneuver alone.

She rowed them back in closer after an hour, where she didn't have to fight the current, and let them float a bit; it was a calm day.

"Tempe, can Daddy come too?" Parker asked.

"Well, it's only meant for two people, sweetie. But you and your dad could take a turn together."

"No," he objected. "What if we see dolphins? I want you to come too! I'm little! I don't count as a whole person!"

"Parker, look at me," she said quickly. He twisted in his seat so he could see her, surprised at the tone in her voice. "You most definitely count as a whole person. Please don't ever say that again."

He nodded, looking chastised.

She hadn't meant to scare him, but the simple statement, even though she knew he hadn't meant anything by it, in that sweet, childish voice that she'd grown very fond of very quickly, had reminded her of a lot of feelings she herself had had as a child – older than Parker, to be sure, but still… being dumped into the foster system because your whole family disappeared or left you was a good way to make a troubled adolescent girl feel very much like you no longer counted as a whole person.

"Tempe? I'm sorry. I love you."

She focused on him and shook her head slightly to clear it, hating the sad look in big brown eyes that were so much like Booth's. "I'm sorry, Parker." She grabbed the end of the oar and tested the depth of the water; they had drifted closer to shore, and she knew she could touch the bottom now. "Hold on tight, Parker."

He nodded, and she slid into the water carefully, not wanting to upset the kayak. Holding onto the side, she set the oar next to Parker and moved to the front, smiling at him. "I love you too, Parker. I didn't mean to scare you. And you might have been onto something. Let's go in for a minute. I'll double check the weight limit on this thing and we'll see if we can figure out a way for all of us to go back out together, okay?"

He nodded, smiling broadly at the suggestion, and said seriously, "I'll watch out for sharks while you're in the water, Tempe."

She laughed, and decided not to point out that they were already in much too shallow water for sharks that could be a threat to them. "Thanks, Parker."

She pulled the kayak and him back up onto the beach and helped him out of it. He grabbed her hand eagerly and started running, so she went along with him and followed him to Booth, who was watching them with an expression she couldn't read. They stopped in front of him and she took off her sunglasses, biting her lip.

He watched her for a few moments, and when she didn't say anything, asked, "Am I invited now too?"

"You may have been right, before," she stated, wondering if he really had just been feeling a bit excluded before; she certainly hadn't meant it that way… she'd thought he was insinuating she wouldn't be able to handle the kayak alone…

"Oh yeah?"

"My arms are tired," she admitted. "The kayak says the weight limit is 700 pounds – even with all three of us we're well under that," she suggested.

"Please, please, please, Daddy," Parker chimed in, clasping his hands under his chin hopefully and turning on the full-force hopeful-puppy look.

"My own son, using that face against me," Booth gasped after a few moments.

Parker laughed and cheered. "Yaaaaaaaaaaay, he's gonna do it!"

It took a lot of careful wriggling and balancing, but they all finally made it into the kayak, Booth in the back to do the bulk of the rowing and steering, Brennan in the smaller front seat with Parker in her lap. She had another oar but was mainly using it to help Booth steer. Parker was taking on the role of lookout again, getting his and Brennan's hopes up repeatedly when he thought he saw a dolphin's fin, only to later realize that it was just a wave catching the light differently.

Booth steered them all, enjoying the exercise. It was hard work, which provided a good distraction from thoughts about his partner that he was certain she didn't want him to be having. She loved him and she loved his son; he knew that. But she loved him as a friend. He smiled, knowing neither of them could see him, as he remembered a conversation a long time ago. She'd asked him if he was going to betray her, and she had never sounded or looked as truly vulnerable to him before that moment or since then. He'd said no, and he meant it. He still meant it.

His partner hadn't had any real constants in her life before they'd been partnered together, with the possible exception of the science she clung to so desperately. And she was a self-proclaimed disaster at romantic relationships. But she also claimed to be terrible with children, and yet she'd been wonderful with Andy and was currently holding onto his son in her lap like they were in the middle of the open sea and Parker was in mortal danger. She could definitely be wrong about herself, which usually meant she frequently underestimated her own capacity for compassion and relationships of all kinds. But until _she _realized it was possible she was as wrong about her ability to sustain a romantic relationship as she had been about her potential to be good with children, there wasn't anything he could do but wait. He knew that. He'd always known that.

And he could live with that, because the alternative meant pushing too far, too fast, and maybe letting her think their partnership was screwed up beyond repair because of it. It was the only thing that he really thought might ever truly make a liar of him. Letting their partnership and friendship, which was the real constant of both their lives now, get screwed up before she was prepared for anything else… that would be a betrayal. Because that was one of the areas where she depended on _his _"expertise," so it was his self-appointed job to make sure that he didn't let them fall apart.

"Hey, Booth!" she called, interrupting his thoughts. He looked at her and realized, from the way she was craning in her seat to look him in the eye and the tone in her voice, that she'd called him a few times already and he hadn't heard.

"What?" he asked. _Sorry_, he added internally_. I was just back here having an epiphany, that's all_.

"We're pretty far out," she said, and he looked around and realized it was true. "I think we should head back. Parker's getting pretty hungry."

"Starving to death!" Parker piped up from in front of her.

Booth chuckled and said, "All right, then, all ashore who's goin' ashore!" He turned them around and started heading back to the beach.

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Booth felt a sense of calmness as he sat across from his partner, eating lunch outside under the beach umbrella while Parker ate between them and talked excitedly about the impending parasailing adventure. While he was certainly still enjoying the sight of her in the more revealing swimsuit, he was no longer as unsettled by it now that he'd reminded himself of his feelings and decisions on such related matters.

Plus, he was tired from all the rowing.

After lunch, they all rinsed all the sand off themselves in the outdoor shower and had a brief rest before getting ready to head into town for the parasailing. Booth and Brennan stretched out on chairs by the pool, Brennan hoping her suit would dry before she had to put clothes back on top of it again. Parker floated around on a pool float, idly shooting at little floating toy ducks with a squirt gun.

Around one, they reapplied sunscreen everywhere and went inside. Brennan went to her room, fixed her ponytail, got cleaned up a bit, and pulled on some board shorts over her swimsuit bottom. She pulled a navy tank top on over her swimsuit top and started collecting things in the beach bag she was bringing on the boat; towels, extra sunscreen, her camera, sunglasses, bottled water. Parker ran into the room eagerly, with his swimsuit still on and a tee-shirt, and asked if he could put one of the little disposable cameras she'd given him in her bag. She took it from him and looked at it in surprise, seeing that he'd already taken several pictures.

"Um, Parker, when exactly have you been taking pictures?"

He shrugged. "I dunno, some today, some yesterday."

"What have you been taking pictures of?" she asked casually, following him out of her room.

"The beach, my room, you and Daddy, my feet… I don't remember everything, Tempe, can't I just show them to you when we get them developed?"

"Yes, of course," she said, deciding not to be worried about some of the things he and his camera might have caught until she had a reason for concern.

"What's wrong?" Booth asked as they entered the living room.

"Nothing," she promised with a smile. "Ready to go?"

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	14. Chapter 14

Author's Note: Well, obviously I got it rewritten, hopefully close to what it was before it got erased. I think there are going to be about six more chapters, probably. I got Bones DVDs for Christmas and have been watching them to help get people's voices right, but it's kind of not working - it's slowing down this story a little because I keep getting too wrapped up into watching the old episodes:)

My proof-reader said Booth is kind of a worry-wart in this one. I said that's because of the way he acts in the episodes when Brennan's in trouble - that it made sense he'd be way more overprotective of his kid. I don't know, it made sense to me.

Ch 14

Booth decided to drive into town, even though they'd been walking because it was a relatively short trip. But walking had more often than not led to him carrying Parker all the way home while the little boy got a head start on his nap. Booth certainly didn't mind carrying his son, but he didn't see the need to _plan _on carrying him the better part of a mile and a half.

Booth was being unusually quiet as they prepared to set out on the boat, Brennan noticed. It was a little difficult to tell, because Parker was so excited that they were pretty much letting him chatter away uninterrupted, but when she studied Booth from the side while he was watching Parker, she could tell that he was tense and nervous, like when they were on a stakeout that had just the _slightest _risk that something could go horribly wrong.

As she watched him tightening all the straps on Parker's life jacket while they waited on the dock to get on the boat, she started to point out how extremely safe parasailing was, how the safety equipment was put through rigorous tests and inspected frequently, how you were far more likely to be hurt in your own bathroom… but she stopped herself, knowing it was one of those times when Booth would be extremely irritated by scientific data and reasoning.

The bottom line was, no matter what she said or did, he was always going to be worried about Parker. But he was still taking him parasailing. Which, she was almost certain, was probably just more evidence that he was a great parent.

Booth lifted Parker into the boat and climbed aboard after him, holding a hand out for her. Not wanting to make an issue out of it in front of Parker, she let him help her onto the boat.

The two people that were taking them out were named Bob and Charlie. Bob was in charge of driving the boat, and Charlie was in charge of the parasailing equipment and taking pictures of them while they were in the air.

Charlie was a very enthusiastic, energetic guy who Parker took an instant liking to. Bob was more laid back. There were three different benches they could sit on while the boat was in motion. The first one faced straight forward and was smallest, right in front of the driver's console. The other two were on either side of the boat, up near the front.

Parker claimed one of those eagerly, wanting to see everything and feel like he was going as fast as possible.

Booth, after some hesitation, sat down on the smallest bench. Brennan sat down next to him, their sides touching.

"Woo-hoo, let's get this show on the road!" Charlie called eagerly, taking the empty seat across from Parker.

Parker echoed him excitedly, waving his arms.

"Don't let go of that rail!" Booth and Brennan both yelled at him immediately.

Parker grabbed the side rail sheepishly.

"Dude, your parents are_ wired_," Charlie said to Parker.

Parker nodded solemnly. "Dude, I know."

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Bob watched Charlie helping everyone into their harnesses in amusement. He saw families like this from time to time, and they always amused him. Both adults double and triple checked the kid's straps and lines after Charlie had him ready to go, then did the same surreptitiously to each other as well. He hadn't pegged these folks for that type though; they all looked fairly outgoing and adventuresome. As he watched, the little boy leaned over the edge of the railing to look into the water and his dad grabbed hold of his lifejacket and pulled him back quickly. Must be the kid, Bob mused to himself as Charlie hooked them all up to the tandem pole.

"Charlie, are we gonna see sharks? And dolphins?" Parker asked eagerly.

"Better hope you don't see 'em together, dude," Charlie replied.

"Huh?"

Booth cleared his throat pointedly.

Looking chastised, Charlie muttered, "Never mind. You might see some sharks, kid. Some do, some don't."

"Awesome!"

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Booth was surprised, as they were unspooled and raised into the air behind the boat, that it really didn't feel like they were moving fast at all. It was loud because of the wind, but it was nowhere near what he'd been expecting.

"Told you it wasn't bad," Brennan called.

"This is awesome!" Parker yelled excitedly, looking down.

They were about five hundred feet in the air. The water beneath them was a deep blue, but to their right just a bit – or it looked like just a bit from that height at least – it was lighter blue-green, marking the point where the shallow water gave way to the deep.

And a few hundred yards into the shallow water was the shoreline and a public beach, where they could see tiny dots that were people playing in the water and on the beach.

Booth had to admit, the view was spectacular. It was a very different perspective, and Parker was loving it.

"I wish I could've brought my camera," Parker lamented. He had been disappointed when he'd been told they weren't allowed to bring their cameras up because dropping them into the ocean would be bad for the ecosystem.

Brennan, upon his remark, started reaching down the front of her shirt.

"Bones, what are you doing?" Booth asked. "And be careful!" he added, as she pushed a strap of the harness out of her way. "Don't mess with that!"

"Relax, Booth, I'm just getting my camera," she said, pulling her tiny digital camera out. It was on a lanyard around her neck so there was no chance of dropping it.

"Bones! You're not supposed to do that!" Booth groaned, as Parker started grinning and waving at the camera and she took their picture.

She'd snapped only a handful of pictures before Charlie yelled up at them, "Hey, put that thing away!"

When she ignored him, Booth said, "Bones, come on."

"Oh, come on, Booth. The reason for the rule is clearly inapplicable here because I'm not going to drop it. Besides, he can't exactly do anything about it while I'm way up here!"

"Yeah, but he can pull us back in early and take us back," Booth pointed out.

She knew how disappointed Parker would be at that, so she put the camera away and just enjoyed the view.

Parker interrupted her quiet appreciation of the scenery by shrieking, "Tempe! Daddy! Look, SHARKS!!!"

This time, it turned out, Parker was right. There was a clearly visible line of sharks along the spot where the water went from shallow to deep, all lined up and facing the shore as though taunted by the sounds and smells of the people splashing on the beach, so close, yet largely out of reach.

_Great_, Booth thought to himself as Parker and Brennan went on excitedly about the sharks, Parker asking how big she thought they were and what kinds they might be. _Now my son is not only dangling 500' in the air, but he's dangling 500' in the air over shark-infested waters. _

His partner snapped a picture of him. He groaned, sure he looked worried. "You want another one where you at least _look _like you're enjoying this?" she asked, holding the camera up again.

He rolled his eyes and said firmly, "I am enjoying it." At the look she gave him as she put the camera away, he added, "Really."

"Look at the sky instead of down," she suggested, pointing to the clouds. "Look, that one looks like the ilia…"

"No it doesn't, it looks like a whale," Booth insisted. He knew she was trying to distract him, but he was willing to go with that.

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Distracting partners and clouds aside, when they were reeled back in and all had their feet firmly on the back platform of the boat, Booth was still glad.

Parker was still super-excited, and immediately started telling Charlie about all the sharks he had seen.

"Yeah, speaking of which, how come there was nothing about sharks in that mountain of disclaimers we had to sign?" Booth asked Bob as he took off his harness.

Bob shrugged nonchalantly. "Sharks aren't anything to worry about, Mr. Booth. I mean, yeah, we had an unusual amount of attacks about six years ago or so, but that was just a fluke."

"Uh-huh," Booth said, not comforted at all. He went back to the seat he'd sat on before and waited for everyone else to get everything taken off and put away so they could head back in.

"Daddy, this was the most best thing ever!" Parker declared excitedly, hugging him round the shoulders and kissing him on the cheek.

"I'm glad you liked it, bub," Booth said sincerely, ruffling his hair.

Brennan sat down next to him, still smiling brightly.

"That was awesome, wasn't it, Tempe!"

"Yeah, it was great, Parker. I'm glad you liked it."

"I'm gonna go sit up front with Charlie!" Parker declared, hurrying up to reclaim his seat.

Once Parker was seated, Brennan turned sideways to study her partner. He still looked nervous. Which didn't make sense to her, because what little risk there _had _been was now completely over.

"It's leftover," he explained without looking at her, his jaw clenched.

"What?"

"Leftover worry. It'll go away in about five minutes or so, don't worry."

She couldn't think of anything to say to that that wouldn't just annoy him, so she tentatively put a hand over the clenched fist that was resting on his leg. After a few moments, when she didn't move away, he relaxed his white-knuckled fist and turned his hand over so he could hold her hand.

It helped, a lot. It helped even more because for once she wasn't pointing out the chemical processes in his brain that were making him feel this way and how it was illogical and irrational to continue to be worried about something that was already over, so once the chemicals regained equilibrium he should feel better… or something. He didn't know all the details of what she would have said to him, but he knew the gist of it, and appreciated that she hadn't said it.

He pretended not to notice when Parker turned around to say something to them, saw them holding hands, and made a face at his dad that clearly said, "Ewwwww!" before turning back around.

Booth laughed at the look on Parker's face – it was a lot like the look he got when anyone tried to make him eat broccoli. The laugh sent the last remnants of worry away, and he thoroughly enjoyed the remainder of the boat ride to shore.

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Parker proved Booth's predictions true by falling asleep stretched out on two plastic chairs in the parasailing office, while Booth and Brennan argued over which pictures they wanted to buy. They finally agreed to buy the CD of all the pictures so they could just have all of them and pick which ones they liked best.

As Booth tucked Parker into the backseat, the little boy woke up enough to mumble, "I saw sharks but Tempe didn't see any dolphins yet."

"Don't worry about that, buddy, just go back to sleep," Booth said, buckling him in and kissing his head.

On the short drive back, however, he thought about that. And he got an idea they would both like.

As he pulled into the driveway of their beach house, he stopped Brennan from getting out of the car with a hand on her arm. "Would you mind taking Parker in and keeping an eye on him for a while?" he asked quietly.

"No. Why, where are you going?"

"That's a surprise," he smirked. "It shouldn't take long. And I'll bring dinner back too."

"Okay," she agreed with a shrug, getting out and opening the passenger door behind her to get Parker out.

Booth watched her pulling Parker out of the car, smiling to himself. She must have assumed the surprise was for Parker, or she'd never have let it go that easily. This was going to be good.

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A/N: When I was parasailing in Destin, FL, you could totally see a big line of sharks.


	15. Chapter 15

Ch 15

"Where's my dad?" Parker asked after waking up from his nap.

Brennan saved her work and closed her laptop, which was on the coffee table, and smiled at him. "He ran into town. Said he had to get something, but wouldn't say what. I expect he's planning a surprise for you."

"Or you," Parker suggested, hopping up onto the couch next to her. "When's he coming back?"

"Before dinner. He's picking up something. Did you have a nice nap?"

"Yup. Did you write more in your book?"

"Uh-huh. But I'm having a little trouble. I'm thinking of giving one of my characters a little boy. What do you think about that?"

"A little boy like me?" Parker asked hopefully.

"Yes. Do you think that would add an interesting element to the story?"

"Yeah! I'm interesting, aren't I, Tempe?"

She tickled him lightly. "Well, that's why I got the idea in the first place, silly."

"Yeah, please, please, please put me in your book, Tempe! Like daddy!"

"Your dad is NOT in my books, Parker," she said firmly, an automatic reflex.

"Oh," he said, confused as to why she had sort of snapped in response. "Sorry… I just heard mom saying it somewhere, I think, that's all. I think she was talking to my teacher, maybe. I don't remember exactly."

"It's okay, Parker." She hugged him into her side, rubbing his arm for a few moments before offering, "Listen, would you like to go on a walk with me?"

"At the beach? Looking for dolphins?" he asked hopefully.

"Yeah, if you like."

"All right! Can we take the Frisbee?"

"Sure. Go get your suit on – your _dry _one, not the one from this morning. And sandals, and bring me the sunscreen."

"Okay!"

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Booth entered the beach house, excited that he'd pulled off his plan, arms full of takeout food. He called a greeting and went to the kitchen, setting the food down on the counter. He called again, and, when nobody came running to greet him, decided that his partner must have taken Parker outside to play.

They weren't at the pool, so he went down to the beach. He spotted them easily. The sun was three quarters of the way towards the horizon, and they were near the water line, throwing a Frisbee around. Although Parker had a lot of trouble getting the Frisbee to go the whole distance, they seemed to have made a new version of the game out of it by racing towards the middle when the Frisbee crashed in the middle.

Booth watched in amazement as his partner _let _his son win, something he knew went against all her natural instincts.

Then, Parker tossed the Frisbee again, and they both took off after it. Parker scooped it up again, but then Brennan scooped him up, tickling his sides so that he squealed with laughter.

When she set him down, Booth had reached the beach and waved.

Parker screamed, "Daddy!" and ran towards him at full speed the entire way.

He jumped into his dad's arms. Booth swung him around and settled him in one arm, smiling at him. "Hey, buddy, having fun with Bones?"

Before his son answered, Booth noticed his son's body more closely and held him out to see better, in alarm. "BONES!" Booth yelled. She was approaching calmly, with the Frisbee. "Parker, what are those?" he demanded.

"Tattoos, Daddy! They're good, right? Look, this one's a skull, and this is some tribal marking that I can't remember, and this one is a shark tooth… Tempe and I were talking about them and you have them so she figured you were okay with them, so she let me!"

No way. She knew how Rebecca was about Parker coming home with a _scrape, _much less…

"Tell me you did NOT let my son get tattoos. Nobody would tattoo a little boy, even with consent…"

"Calm down, Booth. I did them myself, they're perfectly safe."

"You _did _them? In _what, _exactly?"

"Marker. Booth. Do you seriously think I would permanently decorate your son without your permission?" she asked incredulously.

"No," Booth said, sighing in relief.

Now that the irrational terror had passed, he admired the various drawings. There was a skull on Parker's arm, some kind of tribal design around one skinny ankle, and a shark tooth on his shoulder. "Just like you, daddy!" Parker said happily.

"Yeah. Good. Well, let's go have dinner, huh? You hungry?"

"Starving!" Parker said, running up to the house.

He turned to his partner, who was about to burst from silent laughter. "All right, all right," he grumbled.

"I can't believe…" she started among laughter. "You thought…"

"Yeah, yeah. Well, sometimes when you have a kid, your mind automatically leaps to the worst case scenario. Why were you and Parker talking about tattoos anyway?"

She shrugged and said, "He saw mine and asked about it, and yours."

"Oh." He started following her back to the house, then it sank in. "Wait. He saw YOURS? You have a tattoo?" He scanned her bikini-covered body to confirm what was already pretty solid in his mind after several days of seeing her in a swimsuit more often than not: there was no tattoo visible. "Wait, _where _are you possibly hiding a tattoo? And perhaps more importantly, how did my _son _find it?"

"He walked in on me when I was changing into my swimsuit," she said with a shrug.

"He _what?!" _

"Booth, relax. He's just a little boy. He's curious about the human body, that's all. I'm sure it's perfectly normal."

"So, he did it on purpose?"

"I'm not sure. It didn't seem worth trying to find out because I assumed that either way he would be embarrassed if I drew attention to it."

"But… he can't just…" Booth sighed. "I'll have a talk with him. And add it to the list of things he can't tell Rebecca about," Booth grumbled, stomping up towards the house.

"Booth, would you feel better if I showed you the tattoo also?" she called teasingly.

He stopped walking, trying to decide which of them to deal with at the moment. He settled on Parker. It would probably be easier. It was a close call, but Parker was just the teeniest bit harder to ignore.

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It took all of Booth's specialized training to resist the combined forces of his partner and his son during dinner, as they launched a relentless campaign to get him to tell them what the surprise was. Even then, he let slip the fact that it was something both of them would be equally excited about. That had only led to his partner doubling her efforts to get him to spill.

He finally determined that he couldn't take much more of this non-stop and said, "All right, I'll tell you one thing, if you promise to lay off."

"What?" Parker asked eagerly.

"I tried to get the surprise for tomorrow but it was too last minute. So you won't find out what it is until the day after tomorrow, at around ten o'clock in the morning. And I beg of you, please do not spend every waking moment from now until then trying to torture the secret out of me."

"That _would _cut into all of the fun things we had planned to do," Brennan pointed out to Parker, seeing that it was time to let Booth off the hook… for now, at least.

"Yeah, I guess," Parker agreed reluctantly, then thought of something else and brightened. "We're going on a seashell hunt tonight, Daddy, want to come?"

"Sure. We better go fast then, before it gets dark," he pointed out.

"I'll go get our buckets ready!" Parker decided, heading for the back door.

"Not a toe in the sand before we're out there," Booth said firmly.

Parker nodded and went outside.

Booth and Brennan cleaned up the kitchen quickly, putting away leftovers and throwing away takeout containers. Brennan pretended not to notice Booth, but it was difficult. He was watching her like he was trying to develop x-ray vision, and she knew he was dying to ask about her tattoo.

When she turned around from the refrigerator and collided with him because he was hovering so close, she let out an annoyed noise and offered, "I'll tell you what my tattoo is if you tell me the surprise."

He pretended to consider it for a few moments before shaking his head. "Nope. Not good enough."

"I'll tell you where it is."

"Nope. No deal."

"I'll show it to you."

He raised both eyebrows at that and appeared to be seriously considering the deal, but finally shook his head. "Can't do it, Bones, sorry. My surprise has a much shorter shelf-life than yours does."

"Then quit looking at me like that."

"Like what?"

"Like _that._"

"What?" he repeated, trying to look as clueless as she often did. He had the feeling he didn't pull it off nearly as well, probably because he was faking it. He waited her out, silently eye-challenging her to answer in a more specific, more explicit way.

Usually she had no problem with that particular challenge. This time, however, every possible description that came to mind sounded much more like something Angela would say than something she would say. Before he could look too smug at the amount of time it was taking her to answer, she said, "Just… don't."

He was happy enough with that response, counting it as a win in his book. But he couldn't resist adding, very quietly, "Don't _what?_" once she'd turned her attention back to the leftovers.

She turned back around to him quickly, with her eyes narrowed and her mouth all scrunched in that "you're really, really frustrating me now" look that he enjoyed seeing way more than he should have. Instead of backing down from the look, he leaned in slightly and tried to mimic it, starting an impromptu staring/battle of wills contest.

They stood, frozen like that, for well over a minute, before Parker poked his head through the back door and called, "It's getting dark out, are we going or what?"

They both looked at him. Booth cleared his throat and said, "Yeah, we'll be right out, bub."

They followed Parker outside. He quickly shoved plastic buckets into both their hands and took off down the beach. They followed after him, mainly just interested in watching him hunt for seashells than in actually collecting them themselves. Parker was too engrossed in his task to notice that they were really just walking behind him and keeping an eye on him.

It was cooler and windier at night, and the sound of the waves seemed louder. It even smelled saltier at night, somehow. It wasn't long before it was too dark to see the shells very clearly. And his partner hadn't even offered a cursory objection when he'd started walking closer to her and wrapped an arm around her. Her arm was covered in goosebumps, and he felt like he should have thought to bring a jacket.

"Maybe we should finish this scavenger hunt in the morning, buddy," Booth suggested to Parker.

Parker agreed and handed his bucket to his dad so he had two free hands. He took one of Booth's hands and one of Brennan's as they headed back towards the beach house, walking between them and jumping every few feet, using their arms as swings, until he landed on a shell with his bare feet and yelped. "Ow! It's too dark!"

"Are you okay, buddy? You're not bleeding, are you?"

"No I don't think so it just hurts a little."

"Here, let's keep those feet safe." Booth leaned over so Parker could jump on his back and gave him a piggy-back ride the rest of the way back to the house so he wouldn't step on anything else.

As soon as they got back to the house, Booth took Parker off for a bath. Brennan took a quick shower and then remembered she still owed Angela an explanatory e-mail. She turned her computer back on and tried to think of what to say. She had trouble. She didn't know how to describe to Angela the difference between a few days ago and today. They were just… back to normal. Or normal for them when they weren't on a personal case, at least. Normal when they were having fun together. She really didn't think she needed to use Angela as a sounding board at the moment, but felt like she owed the artist an explanation as to _why _her services were no longer required.

Yet it was hard to explain things like joking about tattoos, goofing around on the beach, falling asleep watching old movies, and the like as _normal _and no big deal, especially over e-mail, because Angela would put them through some weird filter and throw them back at her in a way that made them seem totally different from how she had felt about it at the time…

After about fifteen minutes, she hadn't managed to write much that hadn't been promptly deleted. She finally settled for a quick description of all the activities they'd been doing, so at least Angela couldn't complain that she hadn't told her anything. She sent it off quickly before she could change her mind, and turned her attention to finishing up the latest chapter on her book instead.

Ten minutes later, her cell phone rang. She wasn't surprised that it was Angela. "Hey, Angela."

"Hi Bren. Okay, that e-mail was totally inadequate. There better be a good, juicy reason why miss-too-much-information is suddenly a clam."

"I have no idea what that meant."

"Sweetie, when you get home, I am picking you up from the airport and I'm not leaving you alone until you do a much better job of the girl-talk than that e-mail."

"You don't have to pick me up, Ange, Booth's car's there and he's going to drop me off at the Jeffersonian before he takes Parker back to Rebecca. I just felt bad for not responding to you sooner and was trying to give you a quick update to assure you that everything is fine now…"

Parker ran into the room in his pajamas and jumped up onto the bed next to her. "Tempe, can you read to me before I have to go to sleep?"

"Sure, Parker, hang on a second."

"Awwwwww," Angela cooed into the phone. "Let me talk to Parker!"

"No! You do not get to talk to Parker anymore! And I have to go."

"Okay, sweetie," Angela laughed. "You have fun playing house; we'll talk when you get back."

Brennan clicked her phone off with a scowl.

"What's wrong?" Parker asked.

"Nothing. Angela just thinks she knows everything."

"Is she psycho?" Parker asked as she followed him to his bedroom.

"Psycho? Angela?" Brennan asked, confused.

"Yeah. Is she psycho?"

"What do you think that means, Parker?"

"You know, like people who can read minds and see the future?" Parker tried to explain.

"_Psychic_," she corrected, laughing as she realized what he meant. "And no, she is neither psycho nor psychic. She just thinks she knows everything."

"Psychic?" Booth asked, joining them at the end of the conversation. "You guys talking about Angela?"

Brennan rolled her eyes. "Angela is NOT psychic!"

"Okay, okay," Booth said, holding up his hands. As Parker dragged both of them into his room, Booth observed, "Looks like we've been double-booked."

Before she could ask him what that meant, Parker said, "Daddy, you do all the funny voices like usual and Tempe, you can read the regular words that aren't people talking and all the girl parts."

"Oh, we can?" Booth asked as Parker climbed into bed.

"Uh-huh," Parker said happily, hugging his stuffed penguin.

"You're pretty sneaky," Booth said, picking up the book and thumbing through it to the spot that was marked.

They read him a chapter and a half before he finally fell asleep. When his eyes finally closed, they left the room quickly and quietly.

"Want to watch the rest of the movie from last night?" Booth asked. "There was only about fifteen minutes left when you fell asleep."

"Sure," she agreed.

She was being awfully quiet, Booth noticed as they went into the living room and he got the movie set up again and searched for the right scene. "Everything okay? With Angela and everything?"

"Yeah. I mean, you know Angela."

"Yes, I do."

He shifted uncomfortably and started the movie. Angela meant well, he knew, but sometimes she said things that, while not untrue and potentially helpful under the right circumstances, were often said at the wrong time.

"She was annoyed because she thinks I'm hiding something," Brennan finally offered as an explanation.

"Oh." He paused the movie, waiting for her to say something else. When she didn't, he thought of something and smirked. "But you _are _hiding something. Unless Angela already knows where your tattoo is…"

She rolled her eyes but was smiling. "As a matter of fact, she does. She wanted to get one once, after a LOT of drinking over a rather messy break-up. In my attempt to convince her not to, I ended up showing her mine."

"Did it work?"

"No, it sort of backfired, and I ended up driving her to the tattoo place in the middle of the night."

"Huh."

"You know, I'm sure Parker would be much easier to get information out of than I am," she pointed out.

"Yes, but then I would have to repeat the already uncomfortable conversation I had with him earlier about knocking on closed doors and respecting people's privacy. Plus it isn't as much fun. Like you said, he's easier. I want _you _to tell me."

"I want you to tell me where we're going the day after tomorrow," she countered easily.

"I'll give you a hint. You tell me when you got your tattoo and I'll give you a hint."

"Just when I got it?"

"Yup. That's an easy one."

"Okay," she agreed. "I got it when I was seventeen."

"I thought you had to be eighteen to get a tattoo," he pointed out.

"I lied," she said simply, shrugging.

"All right," he said, when it became obvious that was as much information as he was going to get at the moment. "Then here's your hint: you'll need a swimsuit and sunscreen. Lots of sunscreen."

"Booth! That's a terrible hint! We've needed swimsuits and sunscreen every day!"

He merely smirked and turned the movie back on. This was going to be fun.

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	16. Chapter 16

Author's Note: Thanks for the great reviews everyone. I'm going to try really hard to have this story done by the end of the weekend:)

Ch 16

Brennan wasn't sure exactly what had happened, but she had had a bit of a breakthrough with her recent bout of writer's block. It was probably a combination of a lot of things, she supposed, being back at the house where she'd finished the second draft on her first book, clearing up all the unresolved issues between Booth and her, relaxing with Booth and Parker, getting the idea to further humanize the characters and add some interesting back story by paralleling some of the plot points with adding a child to the story… whatever the reason, it was the middle of the night and she could hardly get her fingers to type fast enough to keep up with her thoughts. And she typed very, very fast.

It seemed like no time at all had passed before someone knocked on the door quietly. She looked up in surprise as Booth opened the door and leaned in.

"You're up already," he said, somewhat surprised as he came into the room fully. He took in the messy, halfway-up hair, the paleness of her face and the redness of her eyes, the extra-rumpled look of her sleeping clothes, and the general nest-like look of the bedding and pillows piled around her and her computer. "Nope. You're up _still_. Why are you pulling all-nighters on vacation, Bones?" he asked, sounding and looking exasperated.

"I had a… what do you call it? A brain-storm?" At his nod, she continued. "Booth, this is how I write. This is probably how a lot of people write. The ideas were there, they needed to be written down. I wouldn't have been able to sleep even if I had tried, so I might as well be writing… Booth, this is a _good _thing," she tried to explain.

At his skeptical look, she smiled. "Really. I promise."

"Okay," he said, still sounding a little uncertain. "Want me to bring you some coffee, then? Parker wants to finish looking for shells. I'll take him on an extra-long walk. It'll stay quiet here. Then, maybe you'll be finished before lunch?"

"Sure. That would be great. Thanks, Booth."

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"But Daddy, I want to see Tempe, just to say good morning," Parker whined as Booth fixed a cup of coffee for his partner.

"I know you do, bub, but she's really busy working on her book. She's on a roll, you know. You don't like to be interrupted when you've just gotten to a new level on one of your video games, do you?"

"No," Parker agreed reluctantly. He thought for a moment, his brow furrowed. "Can we take her some breakfast though? Please?"

"That's a good idea," Booth agreed. "What do you want to fix her?"

"Pizza?" Parker suggested.

Booth laughed. "How about toast, and fruit salad? That's more of a Bones-type breakfast than pizza."

"Okay," Parker agreed.

Ten minutes later, Booth was handing the tray of breakfast carefully to Parker outside his partner's door. "Be careful, buddy, go slow. The coffee's hot."

"I know, Daddy, I'll be careful."

"You sure you don't want me to help you?"

"Yeah, I can do it!"

"Okay. But you're back out here in five minutes, buddy. Don't pressure her into coming to the beach with us this morning."

"I won't," he promised again.

Booth nodded and opened the door, guiding Parker inside with a gentle nudge, then pulling the door mostly closed behind him.

"Morning, Tempe!" Parker called brightly.

Brennan looked up in surprise as she saw the little boy moving slowly towards her, focusing on not spilling the tray he was carrying. "Parker, hi! Do you want help?"

"No, I'm doing it," he insisted. She saved her work and watched him make his slow progress across the room. "We made you breakfast while you work," he explained as he put the tray on the bed next to her.

She slid the tray over more and gave him a hand up. He sat back against the pillows she was leaning on and added, "Daddy made the coffee. But I made the toast."

That explained the rather liberal amount of jam spread messily over the toast, she thought to herself.

"Thank you, Parker. That was very thoughtful." He was watching her hopefully, so she picked up a triangle of toast and took a bite. "It's delicious, Parker, thank you."

"We're gonna go look for shells now," he told her.

"Okay, good. You have fun, Parker. Thanks for the breakfast."

He hugged her quickly before scooting off the bed and hurrying out the door. Smiling, she took another bite of toast and turned her attention back to the computer screen after a few moments.

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Brennan's marathon writing session was winding down, and she was seriously considering grabbing a quick nap before Booth and Parker came back, when she heard a horrible screaming wail from outside. She ran outside, hearing Parker screaming and crying and Booth trying to calm him down as he ran towards the house carrying Parker by the armpits, running, but holding the boy out in front of him a few inches. Parker had his legs curled up towards his chest and was screaming in pain.

"Booth, what happened?" she demanded.

"Jellyfish," Booth called to her, heading straight for the outdoor shower.

At that, Brennan ran towards them again, yelling, "Stop! Booth, STOP!"

At the urgency in her voice, he stopped in confusion, right at the shower entrance. "Fresh water, Booth, it'll only make it worse, it will cause the nematocysts to release any toxin they haven't yet… I'll explain later, just bring him inside!"

He obeyed, hurrying over with Parker, who was still screaming and crying in pain at the top of his lungs. "It's burning!" he cried.

Brennan hurried inside and headed for the sink. All beach houses that were used as rentals had to have first aid kits, and it just made sense they'd be equipped for jellyfish stings… she quickly found a first aid kit and sure enough, there were two large jugs of vinegar right next to it.

She turned to Booth as she opened up the kit. "Put him on the counter, where is it?"

"His leg."

"My armpit too!" Parker wailed as Booth set him on the counter.

"How… Booth, did you grab the tentacles with your hand?" she demanded, looking at the angry red welts on Parker's leg and lifting his arm to look at his armpit.

"Yeah, well, I had to get it off him," Booth said impatiently, trying to jerk his arm away when she grabbed his wrist to look at his hand. It was red too. "Forget about my hand, just take care of him."

"I will, but I don't want you spreading that further in the process. Grab a bowl and fill it with vinegar and put your hand in it until I can look at it," she instructed, grabbing paper towels and folding them over to make a thick pad. She soaked the paper towels thoroughly with vinegar and pressed it to Parker's leg. The welts looked like he'd been hit with a whip and given a series of painful hickeys and ran from his ankle to just past his knee.

"That should start to feel better in a few minutes, Parker," she said. "There weren't any visible tentacles left on your leg but I need to see your arm; I think there's some 'jelly' there."

He was still crying and breathing heavily, whimpering and letting out another wail every now and then for good measure, but he nodded that he'd heard her and lifted his arm up.

She peered at his underarm closely and sure enough, there was a bit of "jelly" still stuck there, no doubt transferred from Booth's hand when he had pulled it off Parker's leg and then picked him up. She grabbed the closest thing she could think of that would work – a butter knife – and used it to scrape off the jelly. She threw it in the trash and then soaked another wad of paper towels in vinegar and pressed it into his underarm, lowering his arm. "Keep your arm still there, and tell me if the towels start to dry out."

"Okay," he sniffled, trying to reach out for her with his other arm.

She scanned the rest of his body for any other injuries and hugged him carefully, knowing he needed to be comforted. "You need to be as still as possible, Parker. I know it's hard when you're in pain, but it's very important. It will start to feel better soon, I promise."

"How long?"

"You need to soak in the vinegar for twenty minutes, sweetie, then we'll do the next stage, okay?" He nodded and took a deep, shuddering breath, still crying but trying not to. "I know it's very painful, Parker. It'll stop soon. Okay?"

He nodded, and seemed to be handling it okay now, so she turned her attention to Booth, who was still watching his son closely and hadn't done what she'd told him to. Giving him a look, she got the bowl herself and poured enough vinegar in it for Booth to submerge his hand.

She guided his hand into the bowl and examined the rest of him quickly for any more welts but found none. Booth was clenching his jaw but giving no otherwise indication that he was in pain, although she knew he must be.

Parker was having trouble being still on the counter. He had both legs in the sink because the paper towels on his leg were dripping a bit. She moved back over to him and stood next to him so he wouldn't fall off the counter. He scooted to the edge so he could reach her, still crying. "I hate jellyfish," he whimpered, curling into her as best he could from his position.

She wrapped an arm around him, careful not to dislodge any of the paper towels, and rested her chin on the top of his head for a minute. "I don't think any of us are too fond of them at the moment," she agreed. "But you can't really hate them for being what they are. Those stingers are their only protection against predators."

"Bones," Booth warned, but Parker had stopped crying and was now just sniffling and breathing hard.

"Wh-wh-what predators?"

"All sorts of things. There are very few marine creatures that even bother trying to eat jellyfish now because of their stingers…"

"How do they work?" he asked, genuinely curious.

Brennan thought that explaining how and why he had gotten hurt might help him be more calm and objective about his painful injury, and might help the twenty minutes he had to sit there with the vinegar on pass more quickly. So, she started at the beginning of what she knew. "Well, what most people call 'jellyfish' are actually several different families of similar creatures. There are regular jellyfish, Portugese man-o-wars, box jellyfish, which are often called 'sea wasps,' hydroids, anemones, and fire coral…"

Booth, once he saw that her tactic was working, hopped up onto the counter on the other side of the sink to wait while his hand soaked.

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"So why did you use the vinegar?" Parker asked.

"It keeps the nematocysts from releasing any more of their toxins… the toxins can be released as much as two weeks after the death of a jellyfish, which is why you should never touch one even if you find it dead on the beach."

"I didn't touch it on purpose," he sniffled. "I was just playing in the water; it wasn't even up to my waist. _It _touched _me._"

"Well, the water probably bumped it right into you. I highly doubt it touched you on purpose."

"What about pee?" Booth asked curiously. They both stared at him. "Oh come on, I heard if you get stung by a jellyfish you're supposed to pee on it to relieve the pain."

"For that to be effective the urine would have to be extremely acidic… and even then, it wouldn't be nearly as effective as vinegar," she said.

"Oh. Huh." He looked mildly impressed by the useful tidbit and examined his hand curiously.

Brennan checked the clock and said, "All right, phase two. Let's go to the bathroom. Parker, you can't walk for a while. Increasing the circulation in your leg could envenomate more thoroughly."

"I'll take him," Booth said, picking him up carefully, making sure not to touch him with his injured hand any more.

They moved to the bathroom Parker and Booth had been using.

Brennan pointed to the bathtub as she started looking around for what she needed, so Booth put Parker down in the tub. "It's not burning any more, is it?" she asked as she rummaged in the medicine cabinet.

"Not really… but it still hurts a lot," Parker sniffled.

She nodded and turned to him. "Okay."

"Uh, Bones, what the hell are you doing?" Booth asked, watching in confusion as his partner knelt down in front of the tub and started smearing shaving cream on Parker's leg.

"Booth, this is what you're supposed to do," she explained absently, putting it under Parker's arm as well.

"You're gonna shave my leg?" Parker asked, sounding confused and alarmed. "I'm a boy! Only girls do that!"

"That's not true, actually," Brennan started.

Booth jumped in. "Remember when we watched the Olympics, bub?"

"Yeah…"

"Michael Phelps, the swimmer, remember? He shaves his legs."

"He does?" Parker asked skeptically. He had loved watching the swimmer race, as had probably every kid in the country.

"Yeah," Booth said, nodding. "He does. I promise. Lots of swimmers do. It makes them go faster."

"Okay," Parker relented.

Brennan nodded and started carefully shaving the skin above his welts, rinsing the razor off in Booth's abandoned bowl of vinegar as she did so. "This removes any of the remaining nematocysts that we can't see. The shaving cream prevents any that might still be full of poison from releasing it when I try to remove them. A razor is the most effective and thorough way to remove them, but I think on your hand we should use something a bit less sharp," she said, nodding to Booth.

He nodded absently, watching a bit nervously as she worked on Parker. She quickly had him free of shaving cream and hopefully any and all remaining nematocysts. That done, she gently wiped all of the welts with vinegar again and rewrapped wet paper towels around the injuries, though these paper towels weren't as saturated as the first ones had been.

"You okay? Are you feeling better?"

"It's starting to feel better," Parker agreed, nodding.

She felt his forehead and felt all of his glands and lymph nodes carefully. "Tell me if you start to feel nauseous, start to have trouble breathing, have chest or stomach pains, any numbness or tingling, or any muscle spasms."

He looked a bit startled at that laundry list of what he considered to be dire symptoms, but nodded. "I don't feel like that now."

"Good. That means you'll probably be fine, but we just need to be careful, just in case."

He nodded and looked at his dad. "Daddy, are you feeling nauseous or… any of those other things?"

"No, I'm fine, Parker."

Raising an eyebrow at that, Brennan grabbed his wrist and covered his hand with shaving cream.

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	17. Chapter 17

Ch 17

Twenty minutes later, both Parker and Booth were resting on the couch. Booth didn't feel the need to really rest himself, but he wanted to comfort his son, and Parker's injuries covered a larger area on a smaller body. Booth was wedged into a corner of the couch with his hand wrapped in paper towels still, resting on a plastic placemat Brennan had draped over the end of the arm rest. Parker was lying on a spare blanket on the couch, his head in Booth's lap.

Brennan had been reluctant to take the car in case Parker took an unexpected downturn and needed to go to the hospital immediately, but Booth had pointed out that that was very unlikely, and in the car she would be gone for ten or fifteen minutes, while if she walked to the drugstore it would take much longer. She had made Booth take benadryl and ibuprofen for the pain, itching, and swelling, but the first aid kit didn't have doses for a child. So, she had helped get them settled on the sofa and rushed out to the drug store.

When she came back in ten minutes, they were exactly where she'd left them. She got some water and brought it to Parker and measured out the medicine for him. Booth helped him sit up enough to swallow it, which Parker did very reluctantly, making a face at the taste and letting out a "YUCK!" after he'd swallowed. He took the chewable Tylenol much more peacefully, and drank some water afterwards. He didn't complain when she slathered the welts with cortisone cream either.

"How long am I gonna be hurt for?" he asked as she stuck a thermometer in his mouth, just to be positive that he wasn't running a fever.

"It's hard to say. It shouldn't hurt this badly for much longer. Hopefully you'll fall asleep soon and feel back to normal when you wake up. The red marks may last for another day or two, however." She pulled the thermometer out of his mouth when it beeped and read it. "Normal."

She smiled at Parker and looked at Booth. "How are you doing?"

"Fine. Mine's barely anything, Bones."

"I know you've had a tetanus shot within the last ten years, Booth. I'm assuming Parker had to have one for school?"

"Yeah," Booth said.

"Good. Then, he should be fine in time. But if you want to take him to the hospital just to be sure…"

"I don't want to go to the hospital," Parker whined. "I'm getting better, I promise! You're the one who said I have to be still, but I could walk…"

"Not yet," Brennan said, shaking her head. "Booth?"

"I trust you, Bones. If you think he's going to be fine, we don't need to go to the hospital," he said simply.

"I could call a doctor, get someone to come over here," she offered.

He shook his head. "It's okay. He's going to be fine, aren't you Parker?"

Parker nodded eagerly, not wanting to have to go to the hospital or have anyone else look at him.

"All right then," she finally relented. "Would you like me to put in a movie for you, so you won't be so upset about having to be still on the couch?"

"Can you read to me instead?" Parker asked immediately, knowing he was likely to be able to get away with anything while they were feeling sorry for him about his injury.

"Sure. I'll go get your book."

"Bring Dude too. Please."

She nodded and went to get the book and his penguin. She returned shortly and sat down on the couch. Parker reached for her to come closer to them, so she lifted his legs carefully and slid under them so his legs were draped across her lap. It was a good way for her to check on his paper towels and the worst of his injuries anyway.

She started reading. He fell asleep as soon as the Benadryl was coursing through his system fully. She put the book aside carefully and felt his forehead again, then looked at Booth. "The pharmacist said it's unusual for there to be jellyfish on this side of the island at this time of the year," she said quietly.

"Well, he found one," Booth said grimly. "That was… scary. One second he's splashing around in the water – we were so shallow he didn't even have his lifejacket on, I mean, it didn't even reach his knees… the next second he's screaming like he's being murdered."

"It's very painful. But he doesn't have any indicators of a more serious reaction, like an allergy or anything."

"Thanks, Bones. I'm glad you're here and you knew what to do. I'd have made it worse, taking him into the shower."

"It's a natural reaction given the circumstances, Booth," she tried to placate him. "It just… doesn't work for jellyfish."

"Yeah well, you'd think I'd have found that out before I brought my kid to the beach."

"There's no point in giving yourself a hard time over this," she pointed out, reaching over Parker to squeeze Booth's arm. "You know now, and Parker's going to be fine. It was an accident, Booth. There's no blame to be assigned anywhere here. Just like with Zack. And you being shot."

"Yeah," Booth agreed reluctantly. "But I'm still going to feel guilty about it for a while."

"Just don't ruin the rest of his trip being all morose and sulky. Then you'll _really _have something to feel guilty about."

He let that sink in for a minute and said with a smile that meant her point had been taken, "When did _you _start handing out advice about people's feelings?"

She shrugged and said, "I've been told I have an impressive learning curve, whatever that means. I just said what I thought you would say to make me feel better if the situation were reversed. Metaphorically, of course, because this exact scenario couldn't be literally reversed since…"

"Okay, okay," Booth interrupted with a quiet laugh. "No more squint-talk. You'll wake up Parker."

She nodded and settled back into the couch cushions, trying to relax. Booth, having taken Benadryl as well, dozed lightly. Brennan too started to feel drowsy as she remembered how long she'd been awake, and how she'd been considering getting some sleep herself before Parker had screamed…

Some time later, Booth woke up as his son shifted in his sleep and looked around. Brennan was asleep, Parker's legs still draped across her. Her head was back against the couch cushions at what looked like a really, really uncomfortable angle. He slipped out from underneath Parker carefully, but his son was out like a light, his body still a bit drugged and trying to heal itself.

Booth debated leaving them both there and just trying to help his partner into a more comfortable position, but was afraid she wouldn't sleep very long on the couch. He picked up Parker and carried him to his bedroom. His hand only stung a little now; he didn't think he'd gotten as full a blast of the toxins as Parker had. It was hardly even red anymore, after the Benadryl. He went back to the living room and decided that since she'd been up all night writing, she might be tired enough not to kill him for what he was about to do.

His partner started to wake up when he picked her up, mumbling, "'S-Parker-okay?"

"He's asleep. Go back to sleep, Bones."

She nodded against his chest and dropped off to sleep again. Feeling relieved, he quickly set her down on her bed, moved her computer and the leftover breakfast tray to the dresser, and pulled the covers up over her. He closed the drapes so it wouldn't be quite so light in the room and left, shutting the door quietly on his way out.

He knew they both needed to sleep, but he soon found himself a little bit bored in the house. He wandered around straightening things up that really didn't need to be straightened. He put away all the first aid supplies, put all the clean dishes away, and checked on Parker in between everything.

He decided to go make sure the jellyfish wasn't on the beach. He hurried out there to check for it and didn't find it, although he searched thoroughly. He brought Parker's abandoned pail of shells up to the patio for him and went back inside, feeling a bit disappointed. He'd been hoping to find the jellyfish responsible for hurting his son and be able to dispose of the thing. It might have made him feel a little better about Parker getting hurt, at least.

He went to check on Parker again and was alarmed that he wasn't in his bed. He hurried to Brennan's room and sighed in relief.

Parker must have woken up a bit and sought out the closest comfort available. He was curled up in a little ball, on top of the covers, against Brennan's side. She was asleep on her stomach and appeared so zonked that Parker climbing onto the bed looked as though it had gone completely unnoticed.

Parker had his penguin tucked under one arm and was doing something Booth hadn't seen him do since Rebecca had broken him of the habit over a year ago: he was sucking his thumb. Knowing he only did it now subconsciously when he was very scared or not feeling well, Booth felt Parker's forehead again. He seemed fine – just drained, apparently. Booth pulled the blanket at the foot of the bed up over him so he wouldn't get chilly and left, letting them sleep.

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Booth entertained himself by starting to read the book his partner had been reading throughout the week. He groaned at the first sentence and read aloud, to the empty room but no less sarcastically because he didn't have an audience, " 'Miss Brooke had that kind of beauty which seems to be thrown into relief by poor dress.' _Seriously, _Bones, you read this every five years?"

Deciding there must be more to it than the first line indicated, he continued doggedly through the first chapter. By the second chapter, he found himself interested in the story in its own right, and in conjunction with the fact that it was one of his partner's favorite non-sciency books.

Nonetheless, when he heard his partner approaching the living room mid-afternoon, he shoved the book hastily under the nearest throw pillow and sat up quickly, in time to see that it wasn't just his partner who was awake – they were both up. Maybe. She was carrying Parker, and they both looked like they were still only half-awake, their clothes and hair very rumpled. It occurred to him that he'd never seen his partner in her pajamas in the middle of the day before, unless you counted hospital gowns as pajamas.

"Everybody okay?" Booth asked.

She nodded, stifling a yawn.

"How long until he can walk?"

She looked at him funny for a moment and then explained, "Oh, he can walk now. He's just choosing not to."

She put Parker down on the couch and immediately grabbed Booth's arm to examine his hand. Parker scooted over to his dad and snuggled into his side. "I feel way better now, Daddy."

"Good, buddy! I'm glad!"

"Do you?"

"Yeah, much better," Booth said, ruffling Parker's hair.

"Didn't we all fall asleep on the couch?" Brennan asked, smearing more cortisone cream on Booth's hand.

"Yeah, you all played musical beds today," Booth said lightly, making Parker laugh.

"What does that mean?" Brennan asked.

"Like musical chairs, Tempe," Parker explained. She looked even more confused than before.

Booth laughed, because now Parker looked confused too, completely bewildered by the fact that the woman he repeatedly insisted 'knew everything' didn't know about musical chairs. "It means you all moved around," Booth explained. "I woke up, everyone was asleep on the couch looking uncomfortable. I took Parker to his room and you to yours, went outside to exact my revenge on the jellyfish that attacked my son, and when I came back in, Parker had relocated himself to your room."

"I kind of merember… remember that part," Parker said, rubbing his eye. "Daddy, did we forget to have lunch?"

"Yeah, buddy, you kind of slept through lunch. What do you want to eat?"

"I dunno… a sandwich?"

"Sure, come on." He set Parker on his feet, just to prove to himself that the boy could still walk normally.

Parker seemed fine, if still a little tired, as he watched his dad fix sandwiches. Booth was worried that his son would be afraid to go back in the water after being stung by the jellyfish. But luckily, that wasn't going to be a problem. After two big mouthfuls of his sandwich, Parker asked, "Tempe, when can I go back in the ocean?"

Looking confused around her own sandwich, she swallowed and said, "That's up to your dad, Parker."

"Yeah, I know _that,_" Parker said, sounding very exasperated that she wasn't understanding him. "But… you're our doctor."

The right half of Booth's mouth jumped up into a half smile automatically at Parker's simple description of her, even as she started saying exactly what he knew she was going to say.

"I'm not that kind of doctor, Parker."

"Bones, just answer him. How long does he need to stay on land?" Booth interrupted gently, seeing that both of them were getting frustrated at the unexpected communication barrier.

"Oh. Well, we should call the local coast guard station and make sure that there aren't unseasonable swarms of jellyfish coming our way first. Even so, you should really stay out of the water for the rest of the day though, Parker."

"What are we gonna do then?" Parker asked.

Booth was so glad that Parker immediately wanted to get back in the water and wasn't traumatized by the jellyfish that he was ready to agree to anything Parker wanted to do. But he had a suggestion that would keep Parker out of the water and the sand, which Booth was sure would at least be irritating to fresh wounds. "We can go into town and do some souvenir shopping," he suggested, remembering his promise to his partner that they'd help her pick out something for Zack.

"Shopping until dinner?" Parker asked suspiciously. That didn't exactly sound like tons of fun to him.

"Not that long. We'll do something else fun when we get home," Booth suggested.

"Can we get ice cream while we're there?" Parker asked.

"Oh yeah. I think I read somewhere that ingesting large amounts of ice cream is the last stage of suggested treatment for jellyfish stings," Booth said seriously.

Brennan opened her mouth to correct him, but turned it into a way-too-big, artificial smile at the look Booth shot her over Parker's head.

"Okay then," Parker said, getting to his feet. He looked down at himself as though only just noticing he was still wearing his swimsuit. "I guess I'll go get dressed. First I'm gonna take pictures of my jellyfish stings though! Man, this is gonna be the best show and tell ever when school starts!"

After he left, Brennan turned to Booth. "You don't have to do this, Booth. I'm feeling much better about Zack now, I can handle this."

"I know. But I want to get something for the squint-squad too," he said with a shrug. "And Parker wants to bring something back for his mom. And I told him I'd get him a Hawaiian-style shirt like mine. And like 'Dude's.'"

"We should probably drive again though. Parker will be walking enough once we're in town," Brennan suggested.

Since he took that as her indication that she was agreeing, he got up and went to change his own clothes.

Fifteen minutes later, they reconvened at the door, dressed casually, but all feeling somewhat overdressed because they were no longer in swimsuits and cover-ups for the first time in a while.

"You look nice," Booth said quietly.

Brennan looked down at herself in surprise, as though she wasn't sure what she was wearing that had caused him to say that. It always made her uncomfortable when anyone – especially her partner – complimented her on her physical appearance. With most people, she knew it annoyed her because she inferred from a superficial remark only a superficial interest or appreciation in her as a person – nice to look at, it doesn't matter what's going on in her head. She knew that didn't apply to Booth at all – he had made that abundantly clear on the handful of occasions when he'd complimented her physical appearance. But that didn't explain why it made her even more uncomfortable when it was Booth.

She couldn't figure out what was so special about her current attire either. It was a warm, breezy afternoon. The loose skirt was practical and comfortable for being outdoors and walking a lot. Ditto on the blouse.

Booth finally laughed out loud when she had stared down at her own clothes for so long that he just couldn't take it anymore and decided to move the situation along. "You used to wear skirts all the time. You hardly do any more," he explained with a shrug.

"Oh." She nodded as though that had been what she was thinking too, willing her cheeks to turn un-pink again quickly.

Booth grabbed his favorite jacket and nudged her out the door after Parker, who was waiting impatiently halfway to the car.

"I wanted to be dressed more appropriately for field work as the partner of an FBI agent when we started working together more regularly," she offered out of nowhere, halfway through the short car trip. "Zack looked up the FBI's dress code for female agents in the field for me. I decided to comply as much as I felt was necessary, without exceeding what was acceptable to my own sense of individuality."

He chuckled at that explanation, thinking to himself that he should have been able to figure that one out on his own. Maybe the shift had been so gradual it had slipped by him.

After a few moments of silence, Parker piped up from the backseat, "Once I got in trouble at school for letting our class rabbit out of his cage. The teacher thought I did it to cause may-hem, I think, was the word she told the principal, during our math test. But really, I just went to sharpen my pencil, because the pencil sharpener is by his cage, and he looked really, really bored in there. He sure wasn't bored when I let him out though," Parker concluded dramatically.

Brennan was smiling and laughing in amusement at the story, but Booth had no idea where that had come from. Usually, his son wasn't _quite _that random anymore. As he parked the car and helped him out, he asked quietly, "What was that about, buddy?"

"I promised when she was sad because she was thinking about Zack, I would distract her, Daddy," Parker explained in a fast whisper. "Did I do it wrong?"

"Booth, come on, half the shops close at five," Brennan called impatiently from across the hood of the car.

Booth ruffled Parker's hair as he stood straight up again. "No, buddy, you did it just fine."

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Booth quickly found souvenirs for everyone he wanted, trying to make sure the mood stayed light even though his partner was, of course, thinking about Zack. Parker had quickly picked out a shirt for himself and a seashell picture frame for his mom, and, like Booth, was trying to help Brennan select something for Zack.

She was getting frustrated, and Booth knew it was only a matter of time before the frustration spread to Parker. "I still think you should get him another shark hat – that thing sounded awesome."

"You just want to try to scare me in the pool or something," she said suspiciously.

"Maybe. We could get two," he suggested hopefully.

"Anyway, you already got him a hat," Brennan pointed out.

"You said you didn't want it to be from you; I offered!"

"Yeah, because the pirate thing was all of you _guys. _That wasn't something between Zack and me," she tried to explain.

He nodded sympathetically and stepped closer to her so he didn't have to speak loudly. "Bones, we're kind of in the wrong place for something like that. You're not going to find something here that totally encapsulates and perfectly represents your entire relationship with Zack. It just doesn't exist, and it certainly doesn't exist in a beach souvenir shop. Just think about something that would amuse him, make him smile, let him know you were thinking of him… that's all."

She nodded, knowing he was right. It still helped to hear it.

"Hey, can you watch Parker for a second?"

"Sure. Why?"

"No reason," he said mysteriously.

He turned to Parker and crouched down in front of him. "Hey, buddy, can you keep an eye on Bones for me for a second?" he asked.

Parker giggled. "Daddy, I'm a little boy!"

"I know, but this is an important job," he said, lowering his voice so his partner couldn't overhear. "I need you to keep her over here in this area, keep her distracted for a few minutes. Just don't let her leave this store, and don't let her head towards the checkout counter, okay?"

Parker grinned knowingly. "OH! Okay, Dad, sure."

Booth winked at him and ruffled his hair. "Thanks, Parks."

"What was that about?" Brennan asked Parker.

"Nothing," Parker said quickly, grabbing her hand. He dragged her over to the back wall of the store where there were a ton of tee-shirts. "Dr. Zack wears funny shirts sometimes, right?"

"I suppose…" she said uncertainly, scanning the various designs. Next to the tee-shirts, none of which seemed right, was a wide assortment of puzzles. She stared at them, debating.

"What's wrong, Tempe? Does Zack like puzzles?"

"He does," she said quietly. "But… he hurt his hands very badly. I don't know if he can do a puzzle right now, and if he can, it would probably be very frustrating and painful."

"Oh, then definitely not a puzzle," Parker concluded, pulling her over to another display. This one was full of bobble-head figurines. Parker tapped one and said, "These are funny," as it wobbled. He got the whole row of them going – they were mostly flamingoes and alligators, although there were a few bikini-clad women and women in hula outfits that she wasn't sure Parker was supposed to be looking at. "See, they're funny, right?" he prompted, tapping the nearest alligator again.

Brennan laughed a little. "Yeah, I guess they are." Remembering the case they'd had where they'd ended up bringing an alligator back to the Jeffersonian, she said, "Okay. Good idea, Parker."

Parker reached for one of the hula girls helpfully. Brennan laughed and picked up the alligator one. "Actually, I think Zack would probably like this one better."

"Oh."

"Find something?" Booth asked, rejoining them. "Sweet! Sweets would love this!" he said, picking up the bikini-clad bobble head.

Ignoring that, Brennan held up the alligator one and asked hopefully, "Zack?"

"Zack," he confirmed, grinning and nodding. "Come on, let's pay and get out of here. I got directions to the information center. We're going to find out about that jellyfish and make sure he doesn't have any friends out there."

"Then ice cream," Parker reminded them both.

"Yes, then ice cream," Booth confirmed, heading towards the register with the bobble head for Sweets.

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"Ice cream _before _dinner! This is an AWESOME vacation!" Parker declared happily once he had his ice cream.

Marveling at how little it took sometimes to please his son, Booth mumbled around his mouthful of ice cream, "Good. Glad you still feel that way after the jellyfish."

Parker nodded happily.

"This is really unhealthy," Brennan observed, digging her spoon into her ice cream.

"Yeah, but it's a vacation, Bones. Come on, ice cream never killed anybody."

"Actually," she started, but he cut her off with a quick look, putting his hand on the top of Parker's head for emphasis. "Uh…"

"Actually what?" Parker asked eagerly.

"Actually…" she struggled for an appropriate-for-Parker end to the sentence. "Actually-your-dad's-right," she said very quickly, hoping Booth would let it go.

Of course, he did not.

He stopped in his tracks in the middle of the sidewalk and took a step away from the two of them, looking around as though he wanted signed and sworn witnesses to the event. He pointed with both hands, including his ice cream cone. "Wow. Somebody, write this down. Dr. Temperance Brennan just said that I, Special Agent Seeley Booth, was _right._"

He made a show of looking at his watch, while Parker laughed and she gave a tight-lipped smile, nodding and clearly waiting for him to get it all out of his system.

"And I have a witness! Parker, you remember this day, son, this is a historic event!"

Perhaps because it then occurred to him that they both knew full well that he _wasn't _actually right and she'd only said that for Parker's benefit, he decided he'd teased her long enough, not wanting to annoy her to the point of correcting him (no doubt by informing him just how many people died annually from allergic reactions to ice cream or something).

He threw his arm around her shoulders and tried to get them moving again, still grinning ear to ear, especially at the frustrated look on her face as she refused to budge, because she couldn't argue with him about what she wanted to argue with him about in front of Parker.

A clicking noise finally drew his attention back to Parker, who was taking pictures, apparently.

"What are you doing?" Booth asked.

"I'm NOT writing it down," Parker said firmly, winding the camera to the next picture. "So I got a picture of it instead. Can we go now?"

"Good idea, Parker," Brennan said. "How's your leg feeling, are you tired?"

He shook his head, mouth full of ice cream, and pocketed his camera.

"Uh, Parker," Booth asked lightly a few seconds later, once they were all moving again. "Exactly how many pictures have you been taking?"

"I dunno. You can see 'em when I'm done," Parker shrugged. "Why?"

"No reason," Booth said quickly. "Come on, let's get back."

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	18. Chapter 18

Ch 18

The evening was pretty low key, since they didn't want Parker to be too active just yet, even though he seemed to be feeling just fine. After dinner, he begged to be allowed to go swimming in the pool at least, if he wasn't allowed in the ocean, but Brennan thought the chlorine in the pool might sting and irritate the still-red welts.

They watched a movie and played card games with him instead, but it took him much longer to be tired enough for bed after a day in which he'd had a nap and not as much activity as the rest of the vacation. Booth didn't want to be too strict about bedtime on vacation, but Parker did need to get a full night's sleep before the next day's events.

He finally fell asleep just after ten, after Booth read to him for what seemed like a very long time. As he pulled the door to Parker's room shut gently, he had to stifle his own yawn in the back of his hand. After the initial mid-morning scare when Parker had first been stung, they had taken it pretty easy, but he was still tired.

A lot of it was probably just being emotionally drained from how scared he'd been seeing his son in that much pain. He hadn't even been stung as badly as Parker had, and even thinking about the amount of pain he'd felt in his hand being inflicted upon his son was more painful in and of itself than a hundred jellyfish stings.

He needed a distraction from these sorts of thoughts.

"Hey Bones, wanna play strip poker?" he called as he headed into the living room.

He was just messing with her, of course. Playing strip poker with her would definitely not be a good idea at any time, let alone when Parker was lurking around armed with innocent eyes and a not-so-innocent camera.

But winding his partner up, on the other hand, was always a very good distraction. And he knew she enjoyed it too.

Unfortunately, his proposal went unheard, because the living room was empty. He checked the kitchen and her room, and then frowned. She must have gone outside, even though it was very dark. He went outside, the light from underneath the pool's surface basically the only light out there apart from what filtered out through the house.

She was splashing in the pool, swimming laps. He raised both eyebrows and decided not to interrupt, just to sit and wait until she stopped for air. He stretched out on the neared chair and folded his hands behind his head to wait.

When about ten minutes passed and she didn't seem to be slowing down anytime soon, he decided to make himself a little more visible while he waited. He sat down at one end of the pool and dangled his legs into the water.

The next time she came towards him, she nearly collided with his legs under water and came up right in front of him, looking confused. "Booth! You startled me."

"Sorry." He watched her trying to catch her breath for a few moments, then said, "I was coming to see if you wanted to play a nice friendly game of strip poker, but I think you'd be at a disadvantage."

She looked down at herself and rolled her eyes before lowering herself back into the pool up to her neck.

"Nice suit, Bones," he pressed. "How come we haven't seen that one yet?"

"It's not mine," she said a bit defensively. "And you were in there so long I thought you'd fallen asleep with Parker. I felt like swimming and I knew I wouldn't want to wear this suit any other time, so I figured it would be good to wear it now so that tomorrow none of my other ones are still wet in the morning..."

He was nodding as though he were fascinated by the rapid explanation which, if it had been anyone else in the world, he would have described as 'babbling.'

"… Angela broke into my suitcase and replaced most of my swimsuits, Booth!"

"Uh-huh," he said, as though he didn't believe it… even though he was certain that was one hundred percent true. "Why wouldn't you want to wear that suit any other time, Bones?" he asked innocently.

"Because, it's… not really my style."

"Hmm, I don't know, I think it looks pretty good on you. Red is definitely one of your colors. I think it's far more likely you don't want me narrowing down possible tattoo locations, which, I have to admit, were already pretty limited before I saw that swimsuit…"

She blushed and exclaimed, "Booth!" at the same time as though they were both completely automatic reflexes.

"Look, Bones, your cheeks match your swimsuit now!"

He was expecting her to splash him. He wasn't expecting her to grab a handful of his shirt and yank him into the pool. He came up coughing, because he'd still been laughing when she pulled him in and he had swallowed a lot of water.

Once he quit coughing, he started laughing again. "Wow, I'll admit, you surprised me there, Bones. I was not expecting you to do that."

Now that she saw he was okay, she resumed her attack, splashing water at him. "You! Are! Infuriating! Sometimes!"

"What about the other times?" he asked rhetorically, splashing her back.

She went from splashing him to trying to drown him at that, and he forgot he was tired as a very enjoyable water fight ensued.

When the fight ended, they were both out of breath. "Why did you do that?" Booth asked casually, standing in waist-deep water and wringing out his tee-shirt.

"Do what?" she asked, adjusting her swimsuit top, which had become dangerously dislodged during the scuffle. Not that it really covered much either way, but still. It was the principle of the thing.

He had sense enough to pretend not to notice as she adjusted her suit and said, "You pulled me into the pool. You started this."

"I did not!" she insisted. At his look, she added, "I didn't! You pushed me into the pool a few days ago, this was just my first opportunity for payback!"

"Uh-huh. Sure. Except you were on a float, already in a swimsuit, not on the side of the pool, fully clothed."

She splashed him once more for good measure. He grabbed her wrist to stop her and the action alone pulled her into him because they were so light in the water. "Sorry."

"You're not sorry," she corrected, laughing.

He shrugged, leaned in closer to her, and pointed out, "This would be an excellent time to show me that tattoo."

"It would also be an excellent time to tell me what we're doing tomorrow," she countered, leaning towards him as well, whereas the natural inclination with most people would have been to back off a bit.

"What for a where?" he offered.

"What?"

He laughed. "I'll give you where we're going if you give me what your tattoo is. And then I'll tell you who's on first."

"First what?"

He shook his head. "Never mind. So, do we have a deal?"

She thought for a moment and said, "You're just going to say something vague like before, like, 'oh, we're going on a boat…'" At the look on his face, she exclaimed, "That's it! We're going on a boat, but that's not the whole story, and that's all you were going to tell me! See, now that's not fair!"

"You just guessed what I was going to tell you before you answered my question, how is that not fair to _you? _It's not fair to ME!"

"Okay," she said with a shrug. "I'll give you a chance to guess the answer to your own question, then."

"Yeah? Okay. Hmm…" he thought for a moment. His first guess was so obvious that he was expecting it to be wrong – otherwise, why would she have offered him a free guess? And she'd gotten it when she was seventeen, so that didn't necessarily mean that the most obvious thing for her now was the most obvious thing for her then… but then again maybe it did...

He took his time stalling by making a show of peering at all the skin he could already see, even though he knew perfectly well that it wasn't there. In fact, he had already narrowed down the place of possible locations to pretty much nothing above the waist, which was all he could see of her clearly at the moment anyway since they were in waist-deep water.

"Booth," she prompted.

"All right. Well, I know it must be wrong because it seems so obvious, but I've got nothing else. It's a dolphin."

She smiled. "Of course it's a dolphin."

"Hmm."

Deciding to be a little bit generous, she added, "It's a Celtic dolphin."

"What does that mean, exactly?"

"It's a dolphin made out of Celtic knotwork."

"Oh. Sounds… nice."

"What?" she asked defensively.

"Nothing! It's just, you've seen _all _my tattoos."

"Well, yours are on your arms and shoulder. They've been clearly visible to me a number of times."

"I'm mainly curious about the reason why you don't want to show it to me. I mean normally you're not exactly shy; you're always making fun of me for being…"

"Puritanical? Well, you are. Usually," she added, thinking about how he'd stood up in front of her when she'd barged in on his bath. "I mean, look at you right now, you're swimming fully clothed," she added with a smirk.

He grabbed her and tossed her across the pool for that one before she had time to do more than yelp, then quickly peeled off his wet clothes and threw them onto the nearest chair, leaving him in his boxers, and swam over to his partner cautiously, hoping she'd taken the fact that he'd tossed her across the pool in good fun. Parker loved it. That should count for something, maybe.

She splashed him once when he got close, but she was laughing.

"Better?" he asked.

"Yes," she said matter-of-factly, scanning his shoulders and chest briefly with her eyes. Her eyes once again got stuck on his bandage, and the playful atmosphere disappeared immediately as her face fell.

"Hey." He tipped her chin up so she couldn't look at it any more and had to look him in the eyes. "It doesn't even hurt anymore."

"That's not true," she countered, knowing by the way he was still carrying himself and the way he wrestled around with Parker while trying to avoid that area being strained or coming into contact with anything that it was still bothering him some.

"Well, it's _almost_ true," he insisted.

She decided to let the argument end there. Now that they were alone and weren't "fighting," she was much more aware of each point of contact between them, and the fact that they were both currently wearing very little.

The bandage that indicated the spot where he'd taken a bullet for her also brought her mind back to all of the things he'd done to help her since then – insisting she come on this trip with them, for starters, and using it to help her work through the events of the last few months in the way and time she needed…

She often felt like she was hugely indebted to Booth. She knew he didn't see it that way, that if she ever brought it up, he would shrug it off and say that was just what partners did for each other. That didn't change the fact that she felt that way.

She had changed a lot since she had met Booth. Fundamentally, she knew she was still the same person of course, but Booth had helped her understand things about herself that she'd shut off and locked away to avoid having to confront. She just felt like she benefited much more from their partnership than he did, when you took out the experience she offered on cases.

She thought about everything he had helped her with on this trip alone, and then felt ridiculous for making a big thing out of the tattoo. She had just been joking around with him, trying to keep things light and fun between them… but if he was really that curious about it, what were her motivations for withholding the information from him? It suddenly seemed like the least she could do.

"Come on," she said suddenly. Once she had decided on this course of action, she needed to keep moving.

When he just looked confused, she grabbed his hand and started dragging him towards the pool's steps.

"Are we done swimming?" he asked, sounding confused but mildly amused.

"It's too dark out here," she explained, dragging him in front of her and pushing him towards the stepss with both hands on his back now.

"Too dark for what?" he asked.

She got out of the pool after him, deliberately remaining behind him, and nudged him over to the towels that had been drying outside the shower. She quickly wrapped one around herself and switched the light on in the shower.

"Uh, Bones, what are you doing?"

"I'm showing you my tattoo," she said matter-of-factly, trying to dry herself off quickly because it was cold.

"What? Just like that?" He was clearly surprised, and couldn't help but be both happy and a little disappointed at the same time. Happy he'd sort of won, but disappointed that they hadn't gotten to joke about it a bit longer – he thought it had been sort of good for both of them. And he had no idea how he'd "won," so it didn't exactly feel like a triumphant victory.

Still, he wasn't going to complain. He wasn't an idiot.

She switched the water on so it could warm up. "Sure. Isn't that what you wanted?"

"Well, yeah, but I thought we were having fun making a competition out of it… I just didn't think you'd cave only a few hours before _my_ surprise is revealed."

"You already know what the tattoo is, it's not that much of a surprise anymore anyway. But that's fine, if you don't want to see it anymore…" she trailed off.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, I never said that!"

"Okay then." She tossed the towel over into the small area of the shower that was out of the spray of the showerhead, where the clean towels were folded, leaving her in just the swimsuit.

He'd seen the top of the suit while they were playing in the pool, of course, but hadn't really gotten a good look at the bottom. Then again, he thought, he probably should have realized that if the top was comprised largely of strings, the matching bottom couldn't be far off.

Sure enough, this swimsuit showed just a bit more of his partner than her other two-piece did. Including a small tattoo on her left hip. He couldn't see it too clearly because the string connecting the front and back of her suit was over it, but it was definitely there.

He leaned over curiously and nudged the string aside with one finger when she didn't object to his closer scrutiny. It was, as she had said, a dolphin, made out of an unmistakably Celtic pattern of knotwork. It was black, and only about the size of a silver dollar, but it was intricately done. It was just inside the bump of her hipbone, and he wasn't too happy when it occurred to him that somebody had spent a long time touching her there and looking at this spot and spots around it to put that tattoo on her.

"You got this when you were seventeen?" he finally asked, pulling his finger away reluctantly and looking up at her. He knew the answer, of course, but was hoping she'd take the cue to explain the circumstances of it a bit more.

"Yes… I was almost out of foster care but it was like I just couldn't wait that extra year to be free of the system. I don't know if that makes any sense, but I just… there were these people who wanted to adopt me, when I was sixteen, but I still thought my parents were alive."

"You didn't want to be adopted by someone else," he concluded.

"Exactly. I think somehow I got the idea in my head that having a dolphin tattoo would tie me more permanently to my mother, would… keep me from disappearing like her or… losing my identity. I don't know how to explain this. If you have an identifying mark like a tattoo, your body can be identified so much easier, I mean, if you're found while your skin is still remotely intact.... I just… I didn't want to be lost. Or feel lost. Or feel like she wasn't my mother anymore. I don't know."

She was looking down at him, her eyes huge and begging him to understand what she was trying to say, even though she knew she hadn't done a very good job of explaining it because she didn't fully understand it herself.

He stood back up and hugged her to him gently, rubbing her back. "Then it's perfect."

She latched onto him tightly. Even Angela didn't know that story – nobody did. Yet it had never really occurred to her, even when they were joking around, to show him the tattoo without telling the story behind it. She only realized now that that was the reason why she'd been reluctant to show it to him.

He rubbed her back and arms, alarmed at the amount of goosebumps on her skin. "Come on." He nudged her over to the hot water she'd turned on earlier, still hugging her.

"Better?" he asked after a few moments.

"Yeah. I um, Angela's seen the tattoo, but I never… I never told anyone that before," she admitted quietly.

"Thank you. For telling me." He hugged her until he felt her starting to get tense and uncomfortable with the contact and then made himself let go. "Here. Let's dry off, go inside, get dressed and warm, then meet me in the living room."

"Why?"

"Now you've got to hear the stories behind all my tattoos," he said simply.

She smiled. "Thanks, Booth. I'd like that."

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Author's Note: I decided not to write the actual conversation of Booth telling his own story because I don't want this story to flat-out contradict anything on the show. I figure the tattoo I invented for Brennan is safe from contradiction on the show, but since DB does have several tattoos, at some point the writers might give their own little back stories for those to Booth's character. To me, it's enough that the conversation happens.


	19. Chapter 19

Author's Note: Thanks again for all the nice reviews everyone. I now have more reviews on this story than any other I've written! I think this fandom could easily become addictive.

Ch 19

When Brennan woke up in the morning, she had the feeling it was later than she usually slept. She turned to her clock and was surprised to see a note propped up against the clock. She picked it up and read it. "Bones, went for a run. Parker was asleep when I left. Back soon."

She glanced at the clock and saw that it was just past eight. Yawning, she got up to go check on Parker. He was awake, watching cartoons in the living room. "Hey, Parker. Your dad's out running."

Parker nodded. "He left me a note and said to stay in the house, not go in the kitchen unless it was for the frigerator, and not to wake you up unless I needed something. I'm getting really hungry though, I was gonna wake you up when this one ended."

"I'll fix you something in just a second. How do you feel today?" she asked, sitting on the coffee table in front of him.

"Good!"

"Good. Can I see your leg? And your underarm, please?"

He pulled up the leg of his pajamas obediently. The marks were faded almost completely now, only the worst of them still visible, looking like faded, circular reddish-purple bruises. "No more itching, or burning, or hurting?" she asked.

He shook his head.

"Hmm. If you were your father I'd know not to believe you. But you seem to tell the truth, even about this sort of thing," she mused as she smeared more of the cortisone cream on the still visible marks.

"I'm not lying, Tempe," he promised, holding his arm up for inspection. The marks there were completely gone.

"Good. Okay, then, I'll go wash my hands and you can tell me what you want for breakfast."

"Cheesy eggs?" he asked hopefully.

"What are those?"

"Scrambled eggs with melty cheese in them," he explained, miming sprinkling cheese over something in the air as he explained.

"Sounds like a simple-enough request."

She went into the kitchen and started pulling out the things she would need, wondering what time Booth had gone on his run. After her little revelation in the shower, they had come inside and he had reciprocated, sort of, by telling her the stories behind his own tattoos. Some of them were funny… some were decidedly not. She appreciated what he had been trying to do, and knew that the conversation had been good for their partnership – trusting each other with personal stories about their pasts was always a good thing, no matter how hard it sometimes was to do at first.

She knew all of that, rationally. But a part of her kept pointing out to the rest of her that she had decided to tell him about _her _tattoo because she already felt so indebted to him on this trip in the first place. And he, trying to "balance things out," had really only unbalanced them further, for her point of view. The sheer numbers alone showed that: she only had one tattoo; he had several.

So, while not usually one to mull things over, she found herself thinking about their conversation in great detail as she made breakfast.

She was so lost in thought that she nearly whipped around and hit her partner in the head with the whisk in her hand when he touched her back lightly in greeting on his trip past her to the refrigerator for some water. His quick reflexes saved him, as he grabbed her wrist, although she doubted the whisk would really have done much damage.

"Whoa! Good morning to you too, sunshine!" he laughed, letting go of her wrist.

He was clearly on a post-running high. His cheerfulness contrasted sharply with the quiet confiding seriousness of their last conversation, but they often fluctuated between the two in the span of a few seconds and it normally didn't bother her. It didn't exactly bother her today, but it left her feeling… behind, somehow.

She watched him grab a bottle of water from the refrigerator and drink half of it at once, before she turned her attention back to the pan on the stove. "Sorry, you startled me."

"I do that," he said simply. "At least you didn't have a body of water to throw me into this time."

"Pull you into," she corrected, out of habit.

He hopped up onto the counter a foot away from her so he could see her face while she was cooking. "Did you sleep okay, Bones?" he asked, trying to sound like he was just as light and casual as he had been previously, although she detected an underlying concern that betrayed the seriousness of the question.

"Yes, it was fine. Why?" she asked. Parker entered the kitchen, sniffing the air hopefully like a puppy as he climbed into his chair to wait for breakfast. Apparently his show was over.

Booth shrugged and said, "I just thought… you looked like maybe you still wanted to talk about last night."

"No, I don't need to. I mean, unless you do."

"No," he said quickly. "So, you don't… I mean, do you have any… regrets?"

Was he asking if she regretted telling him the story behind her tattoo, or listening to his stories? She wasn't sure. But the answer to both was the same, so she supposed it didn't matter. "No, not at all," she said sincerely. "I was just thinking about it again, that's all."

"Did you guys do something bad last night?" Parker asked innocently.

They both raised their eyebrows. Brennan was thinking that if Angela were here, she'd have asked the exact same question if she'd overheard their conversation, but it would have been in a much different tone and with an entirely different meaning. From the way Booth's cheeks were turning pink, she suspected he was thinking pretty much the same thing.

"No, Parker, we didn't do anything bad," Booth finally answered lightly, pouring himself a cup of coffee and going over to the table to sit with his son. "And good morning by the way. how do you feel?"

"I'm all better," he declared. "What did you do then if it wasn't something bad?"

"Well, actually, I should say that _I _didn't do anything bad last night. Bones on the other hand, now, would you believe that when I kindly went outside last night to see if she wanted to play a friendly little game with me while she was swimming, she pulled me into the pool with all my clothes on?"

Parker laughed at that and said, "That's funny, Tempe!"

"Thank you Parker," she said, bringing the finished eggs over to the table and going back for the plate of toast and fruit she'd put together too. "And I'll have you know that it was not without provocation or justification."

"What does that mean?"

"It means I had a good reason."

"Oh," he nodded, picking up his fork eagerly as Booth spooned eggs onto his plate.

As they ate breakfast, Booth was interrogated once again about the upcoming "surprise."

"When are we leaving?" Parker asked eagerly.

"What do we need to bring?"

"How long is it gonna be?"

Finally, Booth cut them both off, shoving an extra mouthful of eggs into his mouth before taking his plate to the sink. "Don't you worry your pretty little heads about the details. I will gather everything we're going to need. You two just go put on swimsuits, sunscreen, and something to wear over them."

They gave him eerily similar eye-rolls as they got up and left to get dressed. "Oh, that cannot be good," Booth muttered to himself.

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Brennan decided she might as well be comfortable; after the swimsuit Booth had already seen her in the night before, she couldn't really bring herself to be embarrassed about putting on the only one she hadn't worn so far, the black one with the butterflies.

She put sunscreen everywhere she could reach and donned a cover-up and sandals, pulled her hair up, and went looking for Booth. He was putting things in the big bag she had used to carry things down to the beach and when they had gone parasailing, wearing a swimsuit and tee-shirt.

"You got ready fast," he said, sounding disappointed.

"What?"

"Go wait outside."

"You're not serious."

"I don't want you to see what I'm bringing! Come on, Bones, please?"

She decided to humor him. "Can I at least get a cup of coffee to take out there with me first?"

"Of course."

He waited until she had gotten her coffee and gone outside before hurrying to her room to grab a few much-needed items and stow them in the trunk quickly.

Once everyone and everything was ready, they headed into town, Parker talking a mile-a-minute about what he thought the surprise might be. Parker still didn't even know that there was a boat somehow involved, because Brennan had agreed not to tell him that part, so he could be completely surprised.

When they pulled into a marina and Booth started pulling a bunch of equipment out of the trunk, Brennan said, "That's my scuba gear."

"Yeah, I know that, Bones, that's why I brought it."

"But… you and Parker can't go scuba diving."

"Hey, I know how to scuba dive, Bones."

"You do?"

"Yeah. Ranger, Bones. Why are you always so surprised?"

"Sorry, it's just, you never said anything before."

"I don't do it for fun. But I can do it. Anyway, I'm staying at shallower depths with Parker."

"What are we doing while Tempe goes scuba diving, Dad?" Parker asked excitedly.

"All sorts of things, buddy. It's going to be a very full day. Come on, that's the boat we're going on," Booth said, gesturing to a large boat that was being loaded by several people.

"Wow!" Parker exclaimed excitedly. "It's HUGE!"

"A catamaran. Very impressive, Booth. What exactly are we doing?" Brennan asked, taking the beach bag from him.

"All sorts of things," he repeated. "Sailing around for a while, a little sight-seeing in the morning, then we're stopping for lunch at a reef or something, where you will have time to scuba dive while I help Parker snorkel and play around in the water. Then when we're done there we're going to another area where the Captain promises there's a 90 percent chance of finding dolphins – something about one of their regular stomping grounds, and they have some kind of fish-finder on board or something… anyway. We're going to find you some dolphins," he concluded.

"Wow," she said, smiling hugely. "When you said it was a surprise, I admit I thought it might have something to do with dolphins… I thought you might be arranging one of those interactive sessions at the aquarium or something."

"I thought about that," he admitted. "But that didn't seem like your kind of thing. Trained dolphins, forced, structured interaction… Parker would like it but I thought you'd probably rather see some wild dolphins, you know, being natural."

It was dead-on accurate. She supposed she shouldn't be surprised at this point how well he knew her, but he still did take her by surprise sometimes with the depth of his insights. She didn't know what to say. He was watching Parker closely, no longer looking at her – the little boy was trying to inch closer towards the dock, seeing how close he could get before Booth called him back to put on his life jacket, taking pictures of the boat with his camera.

She stood up on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you, Booth."

She'd done it before, so she didn't see why he was looking even more stunned than the first time she'd done it. He coughed after a few moments and said, "You're welcome. Come on, Parker's so excited if we don't stick to him like glue I'm going to have to put a leash on him."

She followed him towards the dock, brow furrowed. "I really don't think putting a leash on your son is a good idea. Not only is it socially unacceptable, but I'm sure Sweets would have some argument for damaging his psyche…"

"I was kidding, Bones," he said, shaking his head ruefully and grabbing her arm lightly above the elbow to get her moving faster.

They caught up to Parker, who was about a millimeter away from the dock, knowing he wasn't supposed to step onto it until he had his life jacket.

An older man stepped off the boat onto the dock, smiling at them. "Agent Booth, welcome!"

"Thanks, Captain Roger. This is my partner, Temperance Brennan, and this little man is Parker, my son," he said, a hand on the top of Parker's head.

"Nice to meet you folks," Captain Roger said, setting down the ice chest he was carrying and coming over to shake their hands.

Brennan smiled brightly at him as she shook his hand, clearly excited about the day's plans. Booth patted himself on the back mentally and said, "Let me give you a hand with the rest of the stuff."

"Sure, son. Mary will be here soon with the rest of the provisions, then we'll be all set."

"Great." Booth handed Parker's life jacket to Brennan and went to help the boat's captain get the rest of the stuff on the boat.

Parker started to follow his dad, but Brennan grabbed his shoulder quickly. "Hang on," she said, holding the life jacket open for him.

He pulled his tee-shirt off quickly and turned into the life jacket, fumbling with the plastic clasps. "They're hard."

"I know." She crouched down to his level and snapped the clasps together, tightening all the straps carefully.

"Do I have to wear this all day?" he asked.

"I don't know. Probably. But I think that's a small price to pay. Your dad told me what we're doing today – it's going to be fun."

He grinned. She picked up his tee-shirt and was folding it to put it into her bag when a lady about the same age as Captain Roger approached them, smiling around the several large foil containers stacked on top of each other that she was carrying, which no doubt contained food for the day.

"Good morning, dear," the woman called with a friendly smile.

"Good morning. You're Mary," Brennan stated. "Would you like some help?"

"No, no, you just stay right where you are; we'll be all ready to go in two shakes of a lamb's tail."

Brennan looked down at Parker for a translation, since Booth wasn't in earshot. Parker was looking up at her with his nose wrinkled at the same time, wanting his own translation. She shrugged.

"Oh, isn't he just the cutest thing," Mary said, smiling warmly at Parker.

He returned the smile politely but was a bit wary of her, knowing that older people tended to want to pinch his cheeks or coo over him like he was a baby. He leaned back into Brennan, grabbing her free hand with both of his.

"This is Parker," Brennan introduced. "I'm…"

"Oh, I know who you are, dearie. I've read all of your books," she said. "Just wonderful."

"Thank you."

"I admit, I thought Roger was pulling my leg when he told me who our customers were for today. It's nice to meet you."

"Thank you. You and your husband operate a charter business by yourselves?" she asked curiously. They seemed past retirement age.

"We do now," Mary answered. "I come along and prepare all of the meals, make sure everyone has everything they need. Roger does the navigating. We started the company after we retired, just for fun at first, and it really took off once I created a web-site…"

"You must be very computer literate – that's anomalous for someone in your demographic."

"What does that mean?" Parker asked.

"It was a polite way of saying that a lot of little old ladies like me can't find the power button on a PC to save their lives," Mary told him, with a smile to show she wasn't offended at all.

"I like you," Brennan stated.

"Well, I like you too," Mary echoed. "This should be an entertaining day."

Booth and Roger had come back up from below deck. Upon seeing them, Mary made her way onto the deck to pass the containers to her husband, smiling at them both. "Good morning, Agent Booth. You picked a beautiful day for this trip; it's going to be gorgeous all day."

"Thanks, Mary. Nice to see you again."

He stepped back onto the dock and joined Brennan and Parker to stay out of their way while they finished up with the provisions and things.

"You ready, buddy?"

"Yeah, daddy this is going to be even better than the parasailing, I think!" Parker said excitedly.

"Ready to climb aboard, Skipper?" Captain Roger asked Parker.

Parker nodded eagerly and hurried forward. Roger helped him aboard carefully and guided him out of the way for Booth and Brennan to climb aboard. They followed behind the two of them as the Captain showed Parker where everything on the boat was located.

Below deck, there was a miniscule bathroom, a tiny cooking area, a small sitting area, and a bedroom, which obviously wouldn't need to be used today. Above deck, he showed Parker all of the controls by the steering wheel, warned him to watch out for all the ropes and lines that went with the sails, and showed him to the front, where passengers usually spent most of the time.

"Wow, is that a trampoline?" Parker asked excitedly, pointing to the mesh-like fabric that stretched between the two hulls of the catamaran up front, to provide a comfortable seating and sunbathing area for many people.

"It's made out of the same stuff as trampolines," Roger confirmed. "You're a smart boy. But it's not really bouncy at all."

"And you're not going to test that out," Booth called to Parker, who nodded obediently.

"Well now, why don't you folks get settled in – the first leg of the trip is some easy sightseeing. We'll sail past some natural wildlife preserves, maybe see some manatees… once we pass those areas we'll turn on the motors and get to the reef for lunch, then do your snorkeling and SCUBA diving. That'll take us into early afternoon, then we'll head out for the big finale," Roger told them all, winking at the end, because Parker still didn't know about the dolphins.

They put their things away below deck and went to the front of the boat. Booth immediately pulled off his shirt and stretched out on the trampoline, closing his eyes and sighing. "That looks boring," Parker observed, sitting down near the side of the trampoline so he could peer over the hull at the water.

Brennan sat down between them, within reach of Parker in case he did something unexpected and needed to be grabbed, even though she could tell that Booth was only feigning instant relaxation – he would know exactly where Parker was at every second of the day today.

"Mary and Roger are interesting," she said quietly to Booth once they were underway.

"Yeah, I looked around… there were some other similar outfits in town but these two seemed like the most fun. Plus, they don't have a six person minimum. I thought it would be nicer to be alone." He looked uncomfortable for a moment and added quickly, "This way you won't be studying the other people on the boat as anthropological research all day long and you'll actually be paying attention to the rest of your surroundings."

She rolled her eyes good-naturedly and looked around. "It _is _beautiful out here." She pulled her digital camera out and took a picture of Parker, who had his back to them, holding onto the side and looking out at the water. Setting the camera back on her towel, she pulled her cover-up over her head and off, scooting over to Booth with the sunscreen in her hand.

He raised both eyebrows at the swimsuit he hadn't seen before and took the sunscreen. Eight to ten hours on a boat… lots of sunscreen re-applications, he thought to himself. Yeah, it was going to be a very long, very interesting day.

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The morning passed pleasantly as they all got comfortable on the boat and enjoyed the sights, which Mary came up to point out for them and explain some of the natural history of the area, which she did quietly to Brennan while Booth and Parker mainly looked and took pictures, not as interested in the history as she was.

By noon, Brennan was sure Booth couldn't have picked better people to give them this tour – the elderly couple seemed to know everything, be completely on top of everything to do with the boat, they were friendly but didn't insist on keeping up a constant conversation with their guests, and they struck a perfect balance of being friendly and interactive but also giving them a lot of space and relative privacy to enjoy the day together without feeling too "watched." It was a rare combination of many things, but it made the day even more enjoyable than it would have been if they'd been with a larger group or more boisterous guides.

Parker, it turned out, had excellent sea legs. Booth did not, but it was a calm day and his mild unease was quickly put to rest with ginger ale, which Mary had brought him wordlessly forty minutes into the trip, and by pretending he felt great whenever his partner looked concerned about him.

Just before they got ready to stop for lunch, Roger asked if Parker wanted to drive the boat. Of course, what six year old wouldn't? He headed back to Roger eagerly and listened attentively to a few instructions, before Roger let him take the wheel, standing behind him and helping him, keeping a close eye on all the readouts and displays on the console in front of him.

Parker otherwise occupied, Booth slid a little closer to his partner on the trampoline. She was staring off at the horizon and he didn't even think she'd noticed him, until she asked quietly, "Is your stomach okay?"

"Oh yeah, it's great."

"It'll probably get better when they turn the motor on. Being solely sail-powered can be more of a challenge for a weak stomach…"

"Hey, my stomach isn't weak!" Booth insisted.

"I didn't mean that as a bad thing, Booth, it's a simple physiological response that is more pronounced in some than in others. It's nothing you can control and is nothing to be embarrassed by."

"I'm fine," he repeated stubbornly. "I just need some sunscreen, that's all."

"You haven't had sunscreen on this whole time?" she asked in alarm. "No wonder you got burned when you went fishing with Parker. Booth, when the sunlight refracts off the surface of the water you're far more likely to…"

"Yeah, yeah," he grumbled, handing her the bottle and sitting up, sliding onto her towel in front of her.

She squeezed a large amount of sunscreen into her hand and started rubbing it into his shoulders and back, her brain automatically firing off the name of every bone and muscle that passed underneath her hand. She could hear Parker faintly because, although he was only about fifteen feet away, and the child did tend to speak loudly when he was excited, it was fairly windy. She caught enough snippets to tell that he was recounting his encounter with the jellyfish in quite dramatic detail to Roger, who was listening attentively and commiserating with the boy about how terrible the stinging must have been.

"They probably have grandchildren," Brennan observed quietly, mainly to herself.

But Booth heard her, and asked, "How do you know?"

"I don't _know. _That's why I said 'probably.' But it's clear that Mary's given birth to at least one child and statistically it's likely that that child is approximately our age, so it's quite possible. That, combined with the way they've both interacted with Parker indicates a familiarity with interactions with young children…"

"Okay, okay. I saw a picture in their office when I made the reservations. They've got at least six. Now, can you please stop examining them and just relax?"

"I am relaxed, Booth. You're the one who seems tense for no reason. Unless you're feeling worse than you've admitted I don't see why…"

"I feel wonderful, thank you very much," he said over his shoulder.

"Then why aren't you relaxed?" she asked, rubbing his neck a little harder than necessary if she were only trying to get the sunscreen rubbed in. The muscles there were tense. She dug in a little harder with her thumb, and he yelped and squirmed away.

"Bones, what the hell are you doing?"

"What?" she asked, so confused that it was starting to frustrate her, and it was evident in her tone. "I'm trying to help you relax, Booth. You did the exact same thing to me the first day we were here, remember?"

"Oh," he remembered. He couldn't really argue with that, he supposed. "Okay then," he said, his voice sounding scratchy to himself.

"It would be much easier if you'd lie down," she pointed out.

He stretched out on her towel on his stomach quickly, wondering absently how he kept managing to end up in these types of situations. They were both highly enjoyable and highly frustrating at the same time, and tended to leave him feeling very off-balance. He normally knew exactly where they both stood at any given moment, but sometimes her lack of normal boundaries and her complete obliviousness to how she affected him could be very disarming.

He wondered what Sweets would say if he had heard Booth internally describe the situation as "disarming," sure that the kid would find some weird way to connect it to the fact that Booth was almost always literally armed around her and that must mean something important to shrinks like Sweets… he lost the trail of thought completely when he felt her scoot up beside him more, her leg pressing into his side lightly, and she somehow started rubbing his neck again at the exact spot where he almost always had that knot…

"Oh, wow," he said appreciatively without thinking as her thumb dug into the knot expertly.

It occurred to him, as she rubbed his neck, shoulders, and back, that he should have known she'd give the world's best massages. All that kinesiology and physiology knowledge in her head, the way she'd fixed his back… yeah, he really should have expected this.

"If you get tired of being a kickass forensic anthropologist and a best-selling author and you need references for a massage parlor, just let me know," he mumbled after some time.

She laughed quietly and said, "You're now in the club with Angela, Booth."

"What club?"

"The 'Don't tell anyone at the Jeffersonian I can give good massages or I'll have even less time to do my own job than I already do' club. I think that's what Angela called it, anyway."

He chuckled. "That sounds about right."

"Well, of course, when she said it she didn't say 'I' because she was referring to me," she clarified absently.

"Mmmhmm," he agreed, not really paying much attention to what she was saying.

By the time she'd finished, he was a very strange combination of pleasantly warm and relaxed, but also totally aroused – all of the skin she had touched was tingling. He decided he was quite comfortable where he was and wouldn't be sitting up or rolling over any time soon, and hoped no one would try to make him move – or talk to him – for a while. He decided to pretend he'd fallen asleep.

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Parker now considered himself an expert at steering the boat. Captain Roger had let him do it for a long time. Mary had taken his picture and then said she was going to get lunch ready. After telling Captain Roger all about his jellyfish sting, Parker told him everything he'd learned about dolphins. The older man was impressed with the amount of knowledge Parker had absorbed, and hoped they'd find some later in the day.

Mary came back up and joined them, smiling at Parker. "Are you getting hungry?"

"Yes, I'm starving!" Parker said.

"Good. Well, everything is ready." She beckoned him to join her to the side, so Roger could get the boat into a good position and lower the sails, knowing they were close to the snorkeling and diving reef they usually brought people to at this time of the year. While Parker watched Roger's actions, she said gently to Parker, "Maybe you'd like to go tell your dad and Dr. Brennan that lunch is ready."

He nodded, then looked at her in surprise. "Hey, you didn't think she was my mom. The parasailing people did."

"Well, that's a natural assumption to make when a man and woman are on a vacation with a child."

"So how did you know?" he asked, intrigued.

"Well, it would be fairly unusual for two such dark-haired people to have a blond child. I'm sure Dr. Brennan could give you the exact statistics and genetic reasons behind that, dear, if you're curious," she said mildly. "Additionally, it's painfully obvious that she and your daddy aren't married," she added quietly, smiling at him conspiratorially.

Parker leaned in towards her and copied her tone. _"Yet." _

Mary gave a delighted laugh and said, "Oh, you are just a peach, aren't you? And very perceptive, if I do say so myself."

"What are you two conspiring about over there?" Roger asked suspiciously.

"Nothing," they both said quickly.

"Uh-huh. Like I don't know that look on your face, sweetheart," he said to his wife, shaking his head.

"Parker dear, maybe you should go make that lunch announcement now," Mary said.

Parker nodded and climbed over to the side where he could get to the front of the deck. "Be careful, hold the rail," Mary reminded. He nodded and carefully made his way back to his dad and Brennan.

"Is Daddy sleeping?" Parker asked, putting a hand on Brennan's shoulder to balance as he stepped down beside her.

"No, I don't think so. Did you have fun driving the boat? You did an excellent job, by the way."

"Thanks! It was SOOO fun! Mary said to tell you lunch is ready."

"Good, are you hungry?" she asked. Parker nodded eagerly. "Me too." She nudged Booth in the ribs with her foot. "Booth? Are you ready to quit pretending to be asleep?"

"I'm not pretending to be asleep. I'm resting," he insisted, pushing himself up to a sitting position. "There's a difference," he informed her. "And yes, I'm starving."

They all filed down to select what they wanted for lunch. Brennan realized Booth must have requested the menu specifically, because in addition to the more traditional boat/picnic/beach-type food, there was Parker-friendly food, which meant chicken nuggets and fries, and enough vegetarian choices there for her that she felt a bit bad about not being able to eat _more _of what Mary had prepared for them.

"It all looks wonderful," she said appreciatively as they filed out carefully, carrying plates and drinks up to the trampoline area.

"Thank you, dear."

Booth had already taken a huge bite out of a very large and complicated looking sandwich, unable to wait until he sat down. "It's delicious," he said after the first bite.

"You're all very sweet. It's nice to have a smaller group for a change. And your little boy is so very well-behaved," she said innocently, smiling at the three of them as they all sat down together, Parker in the middle, across from Mary and Roger. "I tell you, he is an absolute joy. I don't like to criticize, but I tell you, some of the children who come out with us… well, of course it's not their fault, little dears, but the things some parents let their children get away with these days…" she sighed and said innocently, before taking a bite of potato salad, "You two must be very proud."

Roger coughed into his hand, while Brennan looked flat-out surprised, as if it had never actually occurred to her that anyone could possibly assume she was Parker's mother, even under the circumstances. Booth was so amused at how shocked she looked that he hadn't remembered to correct the mistaken assumption yet.

Brennan took the amused look he was giving her as him telling her to make the correction, and was trying to think of how to do it without hurting Parker's feelings when Parker, who had been confused at first as to why Mary had said that but had understood when she'd given him a little smile and he'd seen his dad and Brennan's reaction, piped up before Brennan could answer. "Oh, Tempe isn't my _bio… bio-logick _mom, Miss Mary," he said loudly, setting his plate on his lap and hugging Brennan's arm.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Mary apologized, looking convincingly embarrassed. "I just assumed… silly of me, I suppose."

"Did I say it right, Tempe?"

"Almost. You were trying for 'biological,' I think."

"Yeah, that's what I meant. Anyway," he said, turning back to Mary. "My bio-logick-al mom is at home. Tempe's more like a second mommy."

"Oh," Mary said, eyes wide and innocent. "Like a step-mother."

"Yes," Parker continued cheerfully. "Only like a _real_ one, who's nice, not a mean one like they always are in books and movies. She's even nicer than my friend Billy's step-mom, Miss Julia."

"Well, aren't you a lucky little boy, then?"

Parker nodded and happily went back to his lunch, grinning proudly from ear to ear and swinging his legs. If he'd looked at his dad at that moment, he might have noticed that Booth seemed to be seriously considering diving over board, just to avoid making eye contact with his partner, who was holding her own by staring at the plate on her lap as though it contained the most fascinating human remains she'd ever seen, while eating very quickly so nobody would try to talk to her, her cheeks bright red.

"You might need a little more sunscreen, dear," Mary couldn't resist suggesting politely to Brennan.

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	20. Chapter 20

Author's Note: Okay, so I got strep-throat over the weekend. Which hurts a lot, but on the plus side, I can't go back to school until I'm not contagious and my fever's gone. Anyway, one of the few things I can still do at the moment is write. So, even though I didn't get the story finished this weekend, I will say now that it is "Done." For anyone who watched Stargate: SG-1 as religiously as I did: It's done, it's just not "finished." I thought about posting the last two chapters a day or so apart, but everyone has just been so nice and receptive of this story that I am going to continue the way I started, and post what I have when I have it.

I AM planning an epilogue, which should be out sometime later this week. This story was very hard to end, so I think it needs an epilogue. And I did say from the outset that it was UST, so I hope people aren't too disappointed with where it leaves things off. I actually managed to take it much farther than I thought I would be able to do, so I did TRY to please as many of you guys as possible in that department. All that said, I hope you enjoy the last two chapters.

Thank you for reading.

Ch 20

After lunch was finished and everyone had let their food settle for a while, Brennan went to get her scuba gear and talk to Roger about what was down there to see. He showed her the topographical maps he could pull up on the displays on his console, while Booth put more sunscreen on Parker and prepared him for his big, first time in the ocean snorkeling session.

"Now, listen, buddy, I'm going to be with you the whole time, and we're going to stay close to the boat, all right?"

Parker nodded eagerly.

"We'll snorkel for a while, and then after you get tired, Captain Roger and Mary have something else I think you'll like."

"What is it?" Parker asked.

Booth grabbed the hard foam board that Mary passed him when she heard him talking. "Lots of places use these for kids, bub. See, it's like a boogie board or a wake board, like the one at the house, but it has a hole and a window in it here, see? So you can just sort of float on it and look through the window down into the water, and see just like you were snorkeling, but you don't have to be under the water and breathing and swimming. You can just sort of float around, and I'll stay with you and make sure you don't drift too far."

"Okay. IF I get tired," Parker stipulated, thinking to himself that sounded like a very babyish way of snorkeling to him.

"All right."

"I get to take all my underwater pictures now, right Daddy?" he asked.

"Yes, I put your camera in Bones's bag this morning, you want to go down and get it, and bring it and all your snorkel stuff up here?"

Parker nodded eagerly and hurried off.

Brennan came over excitedly, her wet suit halfway on, unzipped to the waist, as Booth started fiddling with his own snorkeling stuff. "This is going to be great. It should be about an hour, give or take, is that okay?"

"Absolutely, that's why we're here, Bones."

"Parker won't get bored?" she asked a little nervously.

"Nah, he'll be snorkeling. Don't worry about us. Just… be careful, okay?"

She sat down and started fiddling with something with her camera, nodding. "Of course, Booth."

"What's that?"

"Parker's not the only one who likes taking pictures underwater," she explained, snapping the underwater casing into place around her camera and handing it to him.

He looked at it and said, "Neat. Seriously, Bones, I mean, we've never been here and there's not going to be anyone down there with you…"

"Booth, I have checked and re-checked my equipment. If you know how to dive then I'm sure you checked it too before you put it in the car. And Roger checked it too, something about his insurance. I've dived in underwater caves so deep they didn't have names until I came out of them, Booth, I'll be fine here. This is a shallow, beginner's level dive."

He nodded and plastered a smile on his face, handing the camera back to her. "Yeah. You'll be fine."

He followed her to the back of the boat and helped Parker get ready to snorkel while she got the rest of her equipment on.

"Watch out for jellyfish," Parker advised as she got into the water.

"The suit would protect me, Parker," she assured him. "Have fun snorkeling!"

"Bye, I love you!" Parker called cheerfully, waving, not at all worried.

She barely heard him, but waved back, feeling a twinge of guilt at how hesitant Booth's wave looked, even through the mask and ten feet away, knowing he was worried. She saw Parker grab his dad's attention and went under, checking her watch.

On the back of the boat, Parker was eager to follow her into the water.

"Bout fifteen yards that way there's a nice shallow reef he'd be able to get a real up close look at," Roger told Booth, pointing. "I wouldn't go further than that, and there's plenty to see between here and there."

"Thanks," Booth said, pulling his own flippers on awkwardly. He hated the damn things… wasn't too fond of snorkeling or scuba diving in general – probably due to the circumstances in which he'd learned it in the first place. But Parker wanted to do it, and Booth wanted Parker to have fun and be happy. Seeing his son enjoy the experience would in turn make it enjoyable for him, he knew.

Still, he didn't like the flippers.

He got into the water first, his snorkel dangling near his mouth, and reached up to help Parker in. "It's cold!" Parker said in surprise, but slid into the water nonetheless. Booth swam around a bit with him near the boat for a while to get him used to the water, then Parker put his snorkel and mask on and Mary handed him his disposable waterproof camera. He put the wrist strap on and they started swimming.

Booth's attention was mainly on Parker, although he appreciated the view beneath them. It was pretty good. Parker loved it, stopping every once in a while to talk to him and tell him how awesome it was, or how that spot over there looked just like on "Finding Nemo," or how he'd seen a fish just like that in the waiting room at his doctor's office once…

Parker took lots of pictures, and just before he was ready to head back towards the boat, Booth took the camera from him and went down deeper, underneath him, to take a picture of his son waving at the camera underwater. "I'm gonna put that one in Mom's picture frame!" Parker declared as Booth handed the camera back to him and slipped his life jacket back on.

"Yeah, she'll love that, buddy! Ready to go back to the boat? You can stay in the water if you want, but we need to go back towards the boat because Bones is going to be finished soon."

"Okay," Parker agreed, eager to hear what she had seen and done.

They swam back towards the boat and Parker reluctantly agreed to try the board with the viewing window, shedding his mask and snorkel but keeping his fins on. As Booth had predicted, it was much easier, and Parker found he could move faster with less work, and less thinking. He stayed close to the boat and close to Booth, who stayed in the water with him, watching him closely and glancing at his watch about every minute or so as they got closer to that hour mark.

He let out a sigh of relief when she finally surfaced ten feet away. "Finally," he said to himself, as Parker waved happily and called, "What did you see, Bones? I saw the most awesome stuff…"

"Let's let her get on the boat before you talk her ear off, Parks," Booth laughed as she swam over to them.

She was grinning hugely. "That was great!"

"Great!" he echoed.

She climbed the ladder to the back of the boat and started taking off her scuba stuff with Roger's help, smiling at Booth and Parker. "Did you guys have fun?"

"Yeah, it was awesome! Tempe did you see all that coral? Did you see those little purple fish that were all together, and then those two yellow fish scared them off, but then they regrouped and kept on swimming…"

"Okay, chatterbox, back on the boat," Booth prodded gently, pulling him, by way of pulling his board, back over to the boat.

Parker climbed up, followed by Booth. Once they all had everything stowed away and were all wrapped in towels to dry off and warm up, they went back up to the front of the boat to sit down, Parker still talking so fast nobody else could get a word in. As soon as they had sat down, Mary brought them all beverages and said they'd be setting out in just a few minutes.

Booth spread his towel out to dry and sat back down on it, letting the sun warm and dry his skin quickly, but Parker still had to have his life jacket on so he was a bit more chilled, and Brennan had simply gotten colder being at a much larger depth. She was still curled up in a ball next to Booth, wrapped up in her towel, whereas Parker was wearing his around his shoulders like a cloak.

Once the boat started moving, powered solely by the motors this time, Parker lay down on the mesh surface on his stomach, looking through it. "Hey, you can see the water right underneath you!" he called back to them. "Cool! Where are we going now?"

"Much farther out. It's a surprise," Booth told him, wrapping an arm around his partner and rubbing her arm through the towel for warmth. "You okay?" he asked her.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, although the wind had picked up a bit as they sped up. She soon realized the towel was so wet it was keeping her cooler now, and spread it out to dry in the sun. She put her sunglasses on and looked out at the view for a few minutes before turning sideways to look at Booth. "Thank you. I didn't know you weren't comfortable with diving."

"It makes me feel a little claustrophobic," he admitted quietly.

She nodded, understanding. A lot of people felt that way. She knew he'd been worried for her, even though it had been an easy dive. She scooted closer to him until their sides were touching lightly again. After about ten or fifteen minutes, Booth crept up to check on Parker, who was still lying on the mesh surface in front of them. Sure enough, as he moved back to Brennan, he said quietly, "He's sleeping."

"He's burned a lot of calories today," Brennan remarked.

"This is good, hopefully he'll sleep as long as we're at the same speed. I'll wake him up when we get close to the dolphins."

She smiled at the prospect and rested her head on his shoulder, not falling asleep, but just resting. They just sat like that for a long time, both just watching the water, lulled into a weird sleepy-dreamy-but-awake state by the motion of the boat.

"Found 'em," Roger called some time later, breaking the silence. "They found us, more like," he said, pointing off to the right.

Brennan sat up straight instantly at his words, turned to see where he was pointing, and hurried to that side of the boat. Sure enough, she'd barely been searching for three seconds when two dolphins jumped out of the water about fifty yards away. They were headed towards the boat, and the closer they got, the more of them she could see.

"Booth, look!"

"Yeah, wow!" Booth had to admit that for the most part, the attraction to dolphins for him was the fact that they meant so much to his partner, who suddenly looked remarkably like a happy little kid, a look of sheer amazement on her face as she watched, eagerly scoping out the spot she thought one might leap up from next. But, when he saw them jumping out of the water like that, he had to admit, they were pretty cool animals. He supposed there probably weren't very many people who _didn't _like dolphins at all.

"Parker, wake up," Booth called, grabbing his foot lightly. "Come on, buddy, surprise time."

Parker sat up, looking confused for a minute, until he heard Brennan laugh and turned towards the sound. "WOW!" he exclaimed happily, scrambling to his feet and hurrying over to Brennan's side. She was at the edge, holding onto the rail.

Booth went after them quickly, not wanting either of them to decide it was time to go back into the water.

Soon there was an entire pod of dolphins around them, about twenty or thirty in all. They were swimming along with the boat, leaping up beside it and skimming the surface underneath the mesh trampoline, swimming between the two hulls of the catamaran. They swam out ahead of the boat like scouts, randomly leapt into the air, spinning like tops or doing the occasional flip, riding along the wakes left by the twin hulls…

"They're playing with the boat!" Roger called up to them.

Parker couldn't look everywhere fast enough. He didn't want to miss anything, but there was just too much to see. Brennan seemed to be in the same situation.

When Parker got the bright idea to lay back down on the trampoline at the very front of the boat, with his face literally hanging over the side, so he could see the dolphins that were skimming in front of the boat, and look underneath him and see the ones swimming under the trampoline, and then Brennan joined him happily, Booth decided it would be very smart to sit down behind them and wrap a hand around an ankle apiece – just in case. Neither of them looked like they were trying very hard to stay in the boat.

Booth's attention was divided between watching the dolphins, which were admittedly pretty neat, and making sure nobody tried to break the rule about not jumping overboard. Booth had made sure Roger explained to Parker that swimming with wild dolphins in U.S. waters was illegal – they could approach a boat of their own free will and curiosity, but they weren't to be interfered with.

He watched one dolphin leap exceptionally high and the creature just seemed to be having so much fun that Booth laughed like it was contagious. "They're joyful," he mused to himself, then realized that word perfectly described the way they seemed. He'd certainly never seen his partner (whose name had actually once been "Joy," he thought to himself) so completely, unguardedly happy before either, and Parker looked like he might just combust any moment now.

Brennan had seen wild dolphins before, but never this many, this close, for so long. It was fascinating, watching how easily they incorporated the boat's presence into their pod, playing with it, studying it, perhaps wondering about it a little… it occurred to her she should take pictures, but then she was afraid she'd miss seeing everything by trying to focus on what she get a shot of one at a time.

She turned and saw that Mary was snapping away with a camera she was pretty sure Angela also had, and remembered seeing the older woman snapping a few pictures at various intervals earlier in the day. Mary caught her eye and called, "You just watch, dear, I'll get everything for you."

She grinned a thank you and turned her attention back to the dolphins, just doing what any anthropologist learned to do first and, perhaps, best: watching.

The pod played with the boat for about thirty minutes, then either lost interest or realized collectively they had somewhere else to be, because they broke off from the boat and left nearly as quickly as they'd come, everyone watching them leave until they'd seen the last possible leap.

When the dolphins were gone, Roger slowed the boat down and gradually brought it to a stop. As soon as the euphoric spell cast by the dolphins' presence had broken, both Brennan and Parker turned to Booth at the same time, grinning hugely, their eyes bright with excitement. They both hugged him tightly, Parker ending up sandwiched between them until he yelped and squirmed to the side. They were all still much too excited and jumpy for it to really be a very safe way to hug someone on a boat, as it made all three of them dangerously off-balance.

"Okay, okay, calm down," Booth finally insisted.

"Daddy, that was even awesomer than the parasailing! That was the best thing ever in the whole world!" Parker said eagerly, hopping in place with an arm still around both their middles loosely.

"Okay, buddy, I'm glad," Booth laughed, picking him up just to keep him still. Parker hugged him tightly round the neck, kissed his cheek three or four times, then leaned back happily in his arms, still grinning hugely.

Booth shifted him to one arm so he could put the other one back around Brennan, who hugged him from the other side again and kissed him on the cheek for the second time that day. He tried very hard to ignore the fact that she was still in nothing but a swimsuit.

"That was incredible. Booth, thank you so much for doing this; I think this was the best idea you've ever had."

"Aw, come on," he said, smiling. "What about the time I turned the interrogation room into a coffee lounge to trick those two women who were married to the same guy?"

She laughed and said, "This is way better than that" right into his ear before kissing him on the cheek again.

"Yeah, you're right," he agreed wholeheartedly. From her reaction alone, he figured it was safe to say he'd just managed to top bringing her a Christmas tree to the conjugal visit trailer at her dad's prison AND bringing her brother to the hospital to see Hailey before arresting him.

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They had eaten a late and large snack before turning around and heading back towards shore. It would be a long ride, and the sun was just starting to set, so it was getting cooler. Parker and Booth put their shirts back on and Brennan pulled her cover-up back on as Roger turned the motor back on.

Tired, but very happy, they all settled in for the trip back. Booth resumed the spot he'd found most comfortable, facing forward, on the back edge of the trampoline so he could lean back against the boat for support, legs out in front of him. His partner had started off in the same position but had soon curled up with her knees by her chin, leaning into his side for warmth.

Even Parker finally gave up peering over the sides in favor of comfort, and crawled into his dad's lap, leaning back against Booth's chest, his legs stretched out on top of his dad's legs, barely reaching past Booth's knees. Booth had an arm around his middle, but now it was more of an embrace than just an effort to keep him secure. Ditto on the other arm, around his partner.

Nobody said anything for a long time, everyone thinking about all the fun they'd had that day and how nice it was to just sit on the boat, smell and hear the ocean, and watch the sun going down.

When Brennan finally said something, her nose was almost brushing his ear so she could talk quietly but he would still hear her. With the wind, however, Parker probably wouldn't. "This was the best day I can remember having in… forever, Booth. Thank you."

He smiled slowly, then felt an annoying twinge, some sort of nagging, poking feeling that didn't make sense at first until he realized what it was about her words that had jarred him internally. It wasn't just the words. It was the words in conjunction with the fact that they were on a boat, relaxing… being purposeless.

He knew it might totally destroy the happy, contented feeling he'd had for some time now, but some horribly masochistic part of himself wasn't going to let him get by without saying it. He turned to her and said quietly, "You could have had this every day."

She looked faintly puzzled, brow furrowing.

"If you'd gone with Sully," he prodded gently.

Her mouth opened in a silent, 'oh' of understanding and she looked away, furrowing her brow to formulate her response. After a few moments, he couldn't watch her trying to think of an answer any more, and he looked away again, back at the horizon instead.

This time her nose did bump his ear lightly before she answered. "If I'd gone with Sully… I would have missed this completely. I've never regretted that decision, Booth. Not for a second, not when I was pulling a shrapnel tooth out of my own arm, and certainly not now."

He smiled slowly again at her words and waited until he could tell she'd looked away again. He thought he might have said, "Good" out loud, but didn't know for sure if he'd said it loud enough for her to hear it.

He decided now would be a really good time to return one of those cheek kisses she kept planting on him and turned towards her to do so, but either she was trying to do the same thing or… no, he knew this woman. She was definitely trying to do the same thing. The alternative just wasn't her. If she ever wanted to kiss him on the mouth on purpose, there was no doubt in his mind she'd just grab him and go for it; there wouldn't be anything sneaky or coy about it.

However it happened, before he could change course they were lip to lip. His eyes popped open in surprise at the same time hers did, and he felt her smile against him. Well, smiling was better than beating him up, in front of his own child and two elderly witnesses.

Still, he knew he shouldn't push it. Much.

He leaned into the kiss only a little bit more, just enough to add a little intent to it after the fact, before pulling away, smiling softly at her. She had that small, 'I'm surprised by what you just did, but I'm okay with it' look on her face that he loved.

"I was aiming for your cheek," he said quietly.

"Good thing your hand-eye coordination isn't that bad, then," she said lightly. Her eyes were sparkling at him. He didn't think she'd ever looked prettier. He needed to look away, now, or he'd end up pushing too much.

"Yeah," he agreed, looking down at Parker to make sure his son was still facing forwards – the kid was watching where they were going, and it was windy. Even though he was right there, he was oblivious. That was probably a pretty good thing.

Or so Booth thought. After a few moments of each adult trying to redirect their thoughts, Booth was staring at the sunset, while Brennan was focusing on the water coming off the front right hull, her cheek pressed into Booth's shoulder so they each knew where the other one was without having to look, despite their proximity.

Booth really thought he'd gotten away with it, until Parker piped up loudly, "I saw that!"

Booth swallowed hard, and thought he could actually feel his partner's cheek turning red against his shoulder. Then he felt her smile again and shrugged, ruffling Parker's hair.

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Booth, Brennan, and Parker filed into the beach house just after dark, all very tired but very happy. As they'd pulled into the marina, Mary had wordlessly handed Brennan two discs of pictures, waving off profuse thanks and hugging her.

They had said goodbye to Mary and Roger somewhat reluctantly, very grateful for the day they'd made possible. Brennan made a mental note to send them a thank you gift of some sort when they got home. Knowing now that Mary liked her books, she would be sure to send her a signed copy of each one from now on, but she always felt weird about giving her own book to people; somehow it seemed more like bragging than like a real gift of gratitude. Angela would be able to help her think of something else though, she was sure.

"Dollar for your thoughts," Booth offered, setting down the stuff he was carrying by the door.

"Hmm? I thought it was a 'penny.'" She was sure she'd heard either him or Angela use the phrase before, but it had definitely been 'penny for your thoughts.'

He shrugged. "Your thoughts tend to be more valuable than most people's."

She laughed and said, "This one wasn't anything, really. I'm going to go take a shower. It'll probably take half a bottle of conditioner to get my hair untangled."

He chuckled at that and said, "We're going to get cleaned up too," steering a drowsy Parker off for a bath.

After they were all clean and dressed, they had a light dinner. Parker fell asleep at the table, his head down on his placemat right beside his plate. "Poor little guy; he's beat," Booth said, smiling at him fondly. "That's the mark of a truly successful day, Bones. A kid who can't keep his eyes open at dinner."

"I can see that. Although, to be fair, we haven't eaten dinner this late all week until now."

"Yeah, but he's been up later than this every night. I'll put him in bed." He picked Parker up carefully and took him to his room, coming back quickly in time to help her clear up.

"What time does our plane leave tomorrow?" Booth asked, sort of hating to bring it up. They'd had such a wonderful trip all around, and today had sort of been the pinnacle day, he was reluctant to think about going home, like it might be too harsh a reality check when they went home. Maybe it wouldn't be as easy to be normal again when they went back to the lab and Zack wasn't there, and Parker wasn't around to make his partner smile every ten seconds, and people were murdered and there was a job to do…

"Not until three. We should have time to go to the beach again in the morning, if you want. I mean, if you think Parker would want to…"

"Yeah, that sounds good," he said quickly. One more morning on the beach would be good. He started the dishwasher and headed into the living room.

She followed, and they sat down on the couch, their shoulders touching. After a few minutes, she asked, "Booth?"

"Yes?"

"I just… tomorrow might get kind of busy, with Parker up and everyone packing and getting to the airport and going home and everything, so, I just wanted to say thank you now, in case I forget to say it later."

"For what?"

"For what?" she repeated, like he was insane. "For everything, Booth! This entire trip was your idea; you knew it would be good for me and good for us even though I was suspicious of that at first… you helped me work through all the stuff about Zack and you being almost dead and everything so now when we go back we can really be _back, _you know, and… and today was just wonderful, Booth, everything. I just… I'm really, really glad I came. So, thank you."

"You're welcome. And thank you. Because from where I'm sitting, I'm the one who should be thanking you. You agreed to come with me even though you were still a little bit mad at me for not telling you I wasn't dead, and even though you knew Parker would be here. A lot of people who don't have kids wouldn't exactly jump at the chance to spend a whole week that's supposed to be their 'down time' with an energetic six year old. But you came. More than that, you got this place for us just because I asked for a quiet beach to take Parker to. And even though you were trying to work through some very serious, personal stuff, you did a lot towards making this the best time my son has ever had. You taught him things, you listened to him, you played with him… you weren't obligated to do any of that, Bones, but you did it, and he loved every second of it. And you helped him when I didn't know what to do for him yesterday. I'm really, really glad you came too, you know. It just wouldn't have been remotely the same without you. So, thank _you._"

She nodded slowly when he had finally stopped talking. She knew he always saw things as balanced between them, so it didn't surprise her that for everything she'd thanked him for, he'd had one ready in return. And hearing him say it didn't magically erase the unbalanced feelings she still had about who gave more and who took more when it came to non-work aspects of their partnership. But it did help, some. Maybe the message he was sending would fully sink in eventually, someday, she thought absently. And for now, she could definitely live with that.

"So, when we go home and go back to work…" she started uncertainly, and from the look in his eyes she knew he was a little worried about the same thing. "… we'll be good, right? I know you said it was a marathon before, and I guess technically it's over because Gormogon is gone now, but…it doesn't really feel over to me yet… because what he did changed us forever, taking Zack away from us. I guess I've been concerned… we're still the center, right? And we'll still… hold?"

"Definitely," he promised. "We are most definitely still the center. We lost a spoke or the wheel got damaged or whatever you want to call it, but we're fixing it. We'll hold, Bones. Always."

She nodded and got up with a tired groan. She hugged him good night, went to bed, and for the first time in longer than she could remember, she fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

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	21. Chapter 21

Ch 21

Booth woke up in the morning feeling someone staring at him. He cracked one eye open without moving and saw his son standing next to his bed, hugging his penguin to his chest tightly, his wavy blond hair extra voluminous and wild from sleep. "Park? You okay, pal?" Booth asked, his throat scratchy from sleep.

"We gotta go home today?" Parker asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yeah, buddy, we do," Booth said, scooting over to make room for him.

Parker snuggled in next to him and yawned sleepily. "I don't wanna go. It's so fun here."

"I know, buddy. But school's starting in a week and a half, that'll be exciting, right?"

Parker looked at him skeptically.

"Well, maybe not exciting. But _interesting. _Right? I bet you have a really nice teacher this year."

"I'd rather stay here."

"I know you would, bub. But that's the thing about vacations, you know, it's like a reward for hard work during the year. But you can't just have fun all the time – not like vacation fun anyway. You have to go to school, and Bones and I have to go back to work."

"Catching bad guys?"

"Yup, that's right. Well, Bones does lots of other things at the museum besides work with me."

"If we stayed here forever, bad guys would get away because you and Tempe weren't there to catch them?" Parker asked, sounding like he was thinking through the prospect aloud.

Booth nodded, and gave Parker a few moments before saying, "You're going to have so many fun things to talk about when you get home too. And you have to take Dude home and show him your room and everything."

Parker hugged the penguin tighter and nodded. "Yeah."

"It's okay to be a little bit sad that the vacation is almost over, Parker, but don't let it ruin your whole day, okay? Because we have all morning to play on the beach one more time. That'll be fun, won't it?"

Parker nodded. "Yeah! Let's go now so we have lots of time!"

Booth glanced out the window and laughed. It wasn't very bright out yet, as it was barely past six. But Parker looked so hopeful. And it _was _their last day there. "Okay, bub. But let's eat some breakfast inside first."

Parker nodded and scrambled out of the bed. Booth joined him in the kitchen shortly. "What do you want?"

"Cereal!"

"That's easy," Booth observed, getting out two bowls. He quickly poured cereal and milk for his son, cutting up a banana into the bowl and sliding it over to him.

Parker ate his cereal as quickly as possible and ran off to put on a swimsuit, Booth going off to do the same at a less hurried pace, finishing his coffee. Changed into a swimsuit, he hurried Parker outside before the little boy could go wake up Brennan before the sun fully rose.

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Brennan woke up and realized, by the fact that he house was completely silent, that Booth and Parker must already be outside. She checked the clock and saw that it was fairly early still – just past 7:30. Knowing she wouldn't go back to sleep anyway, and that it was their last day there, she got up, put on her blue two-piece and pulled some shorts on over it, and went into the kitchen.

Sure enough, there was coffee waiting. She poured herself a cup and grabbed her towel, camera, and sunglasses, heading outside. Booth and Parker were building a sand castle. They must have been working on it for a while, too, because it was quite large. "Wow," she said, surveying the castle. "That's fantastic, Parker."

"Thanks, Tempe!"

"Hey, I helped too," Booth joked, pretending to pout.

She patted him on the head. "Good job, Booth."

Parker was giggling at both of them, which of course had been what Booth had intended. She sat down on the chair near them and drank her coffee.

"You're up early," Booth remarked.

"Not as early as you two. How long have you been out here?"

He glanced at his watch. "Almost an hour and a half."

"We already had a race, Tempe," Parker told her. "And guess what, I won!"

She laughed and said, "Well, congratulations. Booth, were you awake during this race?"

"Barely," he confirmed.

They played on the beach all morning, Brennan and Booth determined to stay upbeat and energetic for Parker's sake. They each soon found themselves genuinely cheered by their own efforts and Parker's infectious laughter and persistent good mood.

Finally, Booth couldn't put off the inevitable any more. It was time to head inside and start packing up and getting ready to leave. "Parker," he started. Parker, who had just chased the Frisbee into the surf to retrieve it, turned to him with a grin, which faded as he saw the look on his dad's face. "We need to go get packed up, buddy."

For a second he thought his son was going to cry. Then, something shifted, and Parker gave him a mischievous smirk, and shouted, "Gotta catch me first!" before taking off down the beach.

Booth groaned and turned to his partner for help, but she was laughing so hard her shoulders were shaking and her eyes were sparkling. "Hey! A little help here, Bones?!"

"I'm sorry, Booth, that face he just made – that was just _you!" _ she tried to explain, in between laughing.

"Bones, come on, help me out, please?"

"I've seen you take down suspects far more physically intimidating than your six year old son, Booth," she said mildly. "I really don't think you need my help to catch him. In fact, he might actually benefit from _my _help if I were so inclined…"

He gaped at her. "You traitor! You've been stalling, haven't you, letting him get further down the beach while I stay here and argue with you!"

"Takes two to argue, Booth," she said with a shrug, but not denying the accusation.

"Mmmhmm. Is that so. Bones?"

"Booth?"

"If I were you I would run. Now."

She took off after Parker, knowing full well that the better strategy would have been to take off in the opposite direction, because Booth couldn't chase them both at the same time that way… but this wasn't really about evading capture. And they really did need to get Parker and start packing. Parker wasn't the only one who was reluctant to do that, but he was just a lot better at expressing himself.

Parker was laughing as he ran, now running backwards and watching the adults chasing after him. Once they got closer to him, he took off again at once, darting towards Brennan when he realized his dad was after her too.

He saw his dad closing in on her and launched himself at his dad from the side, trying to tackle him around the waist.

Taken by surprise, Booth went down in the sand. He could have stayed upright but was afraid not giving way would end up hurting Parker.

"Run, Tempe! I got him!" Parker yelled, squirming to get up off his dad.

Brennan was laughing so hard at the surprised look on Booth's face when Parker tackled him that she had quit running, clutching her side in laughter.

As Booth set Parker upright and scrambled to his feet, they both took off again, but this time Parker didn't stand a chance. His dad tossed him over his shoulder and held him there securely with one arm, declaring, "One down, one to go!" He turned to his partner, who was about six feet away and clearly trying to decide which way he was going to go before she determined which way she was going to go. "Your little helper is out of commission now, Bones, sure you don't want to surrender peacefully?" he asked.

"Don't surrender!" Parker yelled from where he was hanging upside down.

Booth had a sudden flash of inspiration and gaped at his partner's chest eyes popping dramatically. "Whoa there, Bones, looks like you've got a swimsuit malfunction going on," he said, pointing.

She looked down quickly, hands flying up to cover… nothing. Her swimsuit was still in place. She realized her mistake about a second before she was being unceremoniously dumped over her partner's other shoulder and found herself exchanging 'caught' expressions with Parker as they both hung upside down, hair dangling towards the ground.

"Booth, put me DOWN!" she insisted, swatting the back of his leg. "That wasn't fair, you cheated!"

"There's no rules in tag, Bones."

"You're going to hurt your back again," she called warningly, afraid to wriggle too much because of his back, and because he was carrying Parker.

"Then you can fix it for me again."

"Are you going to whine for days before you let me do it this time?"

"Nope. I promise to come straight to you to fix my back after you break it."

"ME breaking it?! You're the one who won't put me down! You're lucky your son is here right now, Booth, or I…"

"Yes, I know. I would be in unimaginable pain right now. Parker, you see who you've allied yourself with? 'Tempe' wants to hurt me!"

Parker was still giggling, dizzy with all the blood rushing to his head. "Daddy, she won't hurt you for real. Put us down! We'll be good, we promise."

"Yeah, I've heard that one before."

Parker swatted his backside, all he could reach.

"Bones, that was highly inappropriate! Please try to control yourself in front of my son!" Booth exclaimed, knowing full well it hadn't been her.

"What? That wasn't me, Booth, that was Parker!"

"Uh-huh. Sure."

"Anyway, even if it had been, I still owe you one!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" he asked, genuinely puzzled.

"Ummm! Daddy said 'hell!'" Parker declared.

"Vegas, Booth."

It took him a moment to figure out what she was talking about. "Hey, that wasn't me, that was Tony!"

"Uh-huh. Well, since you both have the same hand, I'm afraid that distinction is irrelevant. I could ask Caroline if you like but I'm almost certain the law is on my side on this one."

"Come on, Bones, that was over a year ago… you trying to tell me you've been waiting for the chance for a little payback since then?"

"Perhaps. Or perhaps I find it a useful tool to hang onto in the meantime."

"Because now I'll be on my guard around you constantly, wondering when you're going to get me back?"

"Precisely."

He laughed at that and, now that they were back to their beach things, said, "Now, if I put both of you down, are you going to behave, or take off again?"

"We'll be good, Daddy!" Parker promised.

Booth had the good sense not to try to elicit the same promise from his partner and set them both on their feet, chuckling as he saw them both swaying a bit dizzily on the spot as they got reoriented. Their faces were bright red. As they caught their breath, Booth pressed a hand to his forehead and collapsed dramatically onto the sand as though from sheer exhaustion from carrying them.

Parker copied him, grabbing Brennan by the hand in the process to bring her with him. They ended up in a heap on the sand, all still laughing a bit as they tried to catch their breath. After a few moments, even Parker knew the frivolity was over, and they had to get ready to leave. But everyone was in a pretty good mood right now…

His head was on his dad's stomach and he couldn't see their faces, so just to make sure they were listening first, he called, "Daddy? Tempe?"

"Yes, Parker?"

"What?"

"Can we come back here next summer?" he asked, scrambling to sit up and turning to look at him, his knees pressing into his dad's side lightly and looking at them both hopefully.

They sat up at the same time, Booth sitting up fully, Brennan propping herself up halfway on her elbows. They looked at each other, Booth giving her a look that clearly said it was up to her.

"That sounds good to me, Parker… I mean, assuming my publicist will let us have the house again, and your mother says it's okay."

"She will," Parker said eagerly. Then he decided he might as well go for it. "Can we come here EVERY year?"

Parker focused all of his mighty puppy-eye-power on Brennan then, throwing in the pouty lips for good measure.

She looked a bit uncomfortable at the question, and turned to Booth for help, but he was for once being absolutely zero help at all. He'd stretched back out on the sand with his hands folded behind his head.

"Booth?" she prompted.

"I'm Switzerland today, Bones," he said. "Your call."

"Please, Tempe," Parker prompted, somehow managing to double his pouting power.

"This is very unfair," she said, finding herself unable to say no to him. The fact that it sounded like a pretty good idea to her too didn't exactly hurt either. "All right," she finally said.

"Yaaaaaaaaaay!" Parker exclaimed, throwing his arms around her neck and planting a very sloppy kiss on her cheek. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! I'm gonna go pack now!" he declared, scrambling to his feet and heading towards the house.

"You rinse all that sand off in the shower first!" Booth called after him, getting to his feet and brushing as much sand off himself as possible. He grabbed Brennan's hands and hauled her to her feet. "Thank you. For saying that to him."

She looked offended. "I didn't say it to him just to make him happy, Booth. I wouldn't intentionally lie to your son!"

"I know, I know, that's not what I meant," he said quickly. "I just meant… thank you, I guess. Just thank you."

"You're welcome."

"And now he's more willing to go home this year. This is good. I guess we'd better get ready to go home."

"Yeah," she agreed, helping him gather up their beach things.

He noticed how quiet she got as they put everything they'd used outdoors into the outdoor storage shed around the side of the house and locked it. Surveying the pool area to make sure they hadn't missed anything, he went to help her as she came out of the outdoor shower with a giant stack of towels. She knew someone would be in to clean after them but didn't want to leave the place a wreck, especially if they wanted to use it next year.

"Hey, I just got quite the workout cheering Parker into packing and leaving," Booth said as he took the towels from her. "I'll thank you not to undo all my hard work with that frowny face."

"I wasn't frowning," she insisted.

"Okay, the sad face, then. You look like someone just took your puppy away."

"I don't have a puppy," she said, confused.

"Never mind, Bones. Hey." He slung an arm around her and pulled her into his side in what he internally dubbed the 'guy-hug-while-walking.' "Come on, you know what they say. There's no place like home."

"Who says that?" she asked.

He groaned. "Okay, movie night when we get home, Bones. I was sure even you would get that one." He ruffled her hair affectionately, sprinkling them both liberally with sand in the process. "Come on, let's go home."

She brushed the sand off herself and smiled. "Yeah. Let's go home."

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The end.

Author's Note: There will be an epilogue, as soon as I have the time.


	22. Epilogue

Author's Note: Thanks so much for all the great support for this story, everyone! I hope you enjoy the epilogue. I wanted to situate this story in between the Season 3 finale and Yanks in the U.K., because to me there was a large gap between the mood at the end of the season and how playful they were in London. Thank you all for reading.

Also, on a personal note, if any of you are into the "win a chance to be on Bones" contest, I'm voting for my friend R-Brunhart, who is being awesome by entering this contest after having major surgery. She is a huge fan of Bones and a great supporter of fanfic. Thanks, Ria (and your sister)!

Epilogue

Dr. Saroyan went up to the lounge area of her lab for a much needed cup of coffee. She was surprised to find Angela there. The lab had been pretty much deserted all week, since everyone had taken the personal time she'd offered in the wake of everything that had happened with Zack.

Angela looked sort of… lost. And uncharacteristically worn for the normally upbeat woman. She knew Angela had been very fond of Zack; he was almost like a weird little brother to her, and Angela felt things more acutely than the rest of them did, not having years of practice at desensitizing herself from the horrors of the world.

"Angela, what are you doing here?" Cam asked gently, startling the woman, who had been staring into a cup of tea like she was reading the leaves… which Cam then thought was a definite possibility with Angela.

"Nothing," Angela said, smiling at her tiredly. "Jack was… Hodgins was going a little nuts. At home. He needed to come look at some dirt. He's in his lab."

Cam nodded as she poured herself some coffee and joined Angela at the table. "I know it must be harder for him than any of us, because he was Zack's best friend. Which means it must be harder for you by extension too. If you need more time…"

"I think we need to be back at work," Angela said firmly. "We need a distraction. That's another reason why I'm here. Bren should be back soon. Their plane landed on time; I just checked online. When I talked to her she said Booth was going to drop her off here before he takes Parker back to Rebecca."

"I wonder how Dr. Brennan did all week with a small child on vacation," Cam mused.

Angela smiled, a real smile this time. "Parker is different, to her. I mean, even before Andy, she just sort of always accepted Parker's presence as perfectly normal. And he likes her because she talks to him like he's an adult."

"Interesting. Well, I hope they all had a wonderful time, because I have spent the last two days working my ass off for those two."

"What are you talking about?" Angela asked.

Before Cam answered that, she asked, "And when exactly did you talk to Dr. Brennan? Because I have been trying to reach both of them for days."

"A couple of days ago. Late in the evening, was the last time. Maybe her phone died, or she quit checking it because she wasn't expecting me to call her again," Angela suggested. "What's going on that's had you so busy?"

Cam rolled her eyes. "Dr. Brennan was scheduled to go to London next April, to guest lecture at Oxford."

"Yeah, she mentioned something about that to me."

"Right, well, apparently there's some sort of tacit understanding between Cullen and Booth that when she does stuff like that, he's going."

"Well, she's had some problems with overly-enthusiastic fans in the past," Angela tried to explain. "Booth worries. We all do."

"Yes. Well, I learned about that 'tacit understanding' when Cullen called to inform me that Scotland Yard needed to move Booth's scheduled guest lecture up to next week. They want their incoming class of recruits there to hear it first thing, and there's something happening in April that will have a lot of them out of town, or something. So, to make a long story short, Cullen called me, I called the anthropologist in Oxford, and he was more than happy to have Dr. Brennan come this semester instead of next… actually, he hinted strongly he'd be thrilled to have her come both times if she was still available. Anyway, getting last-minute itineraries coordinated for both of them when they couldn't be reached was… interesting. Cullen and I have been functioning more like their secretaries than bosses this week."

Angela laughed. "Well, Cullen feels very indebted to both of them, Bren especially, because of his daughter. You know about that, right?"

Cam nodded. "Yes, he told me to tell you that she's doing well and asks about you often."

"I'll give her a call when I get the chance," Angela said, out loud mainly to remind herself. "But if I know Bren, she's going to be a little annoyed about her schedule being rearranged for her. She doesn't like surprises very much."

"Well, then I guess we'd better batten down the hatches for a storm, because Cullen strongly hinted that he was fairly certain she doesn't know about the tacit understanding he has with Booth."

"He hasn't told her he's planning to go with her to London?" Angela asked. That didn't sound like Booth…

"I don't know. I'm sure he was going to, but remember, this trip was originally scheduled for April. I'm sure with everything that's been going on here lately, he didn't see the need to tell her about it right away."

"Wow. Them coming home could be an even better show than I was anticipating," Angela said, perking up a bit at the possibility of such an entertaining distraction from thoughts of Zack.

Cam smiled politely but was about to ask what exactly she meant by that when the lab doors opened and Booth, Brennan, and Parker entered.

"They're back!" Angela squealed loudly, her voice echoing all over the mostly empty lab. She jumped to her feet and ran down the stairs to meet them, Cam following at a slower pace.

Angela took in their collective appearance at once, filing every bit of information away for later. Booth and Parker looked well-tanned, Brennan looked like she'd been as meticulous as ever about the sunscreen, but she looked relaxed and happier than Angela remembered seeing her in a really, really, really long time. The Booth boys were both wearing festive Hawaiian shirts and cargo shorts and looked like they were still on vacation. Parker was carrying a stuffed penguin wearing a Hawaiian shirt. Booth was carrying a lot of bags, which he set down in the middle of the lab.

Angela hugged her best friend enthusiastically, nearly knocking her over. "Sweetie! You look great! The beach did wonders for you! Or _something _did," she added, smirking at Booth suggestively.

"Angela!" Booth said, putting his hands over Parker's ears.

Parker swatted his dad's hands away and said, "I don't know what that means anyway, Daddy."

"Ohhhh, she did it! He's a squint, he uttered the magic six-word phrase!" Hodgins said as he reached them, having been drawn out of his office by Angela's initial squeal. "Dr. Brennan converts another one!"

Booth rolled his eyes. "Hey everybody, nice to see you all too."

"How was your trip?" Hodgins asked, shaking his hand.

"It was the bestest trip ever in the whole world!" Parker exclaimed enthusiastically.

"Well, now, why don't you come with me and tell me all about it, sweetie," Angela suggested.

"Angela," Brennan warned.

"What?" Angela asked innocently.

"You _know _what."

Parker, oblivious to whatever was going on between Angela and Brennan, launched into a loud and enthusiastic account of their week. Of course, Brennan soon realized there wasn't really anything to worry about from this. The things Parker had found the most entertaining and worthy of reporting were not things Angela could squeal about… those things would take wheedling and strategic questioning, and Parker was talking too quickly for anyone to get a question in.

Cam caught Brennan and Booth's attention as Parker chattered to Angela and Hodgins, telling them about being stung by a jellyfish, and gestured them to move away from the group. They exchanged confused looks and followed her three feet away, where they could talk without Parker overhearing or interrupting them.

"Dr. Brennan, I've been trying to call you for two days."

"I'm sorry, my phone must have died after I talked to Angela. Is something wrong?"

"Well, let's just say I hope you two don't have jet lag already," Cam said.

"Why?" Brennan asked.

"Because you're going to London tomorrow morning to do your lectures instead of in April. Director Cullen and I have been playing secretary for you both for the past two days. Your flight leaves at eight tomorrow morning."

Both of them stared at her, clearly taken aback at the unexpected end to their vacation.

"Wait a second," Brennan said suddenly, turning to Booth. "Booth, you're coming to London?"

"Well, yeah, I… thought I might," he said, looking scared. Cam didn't blame him. "Look, I was going to talk to you about it, but I thought there was plenty of time, I mean, we weren't supposed to go until April… I'm going to do a thing at Scotland Yard while you're with the squints-in-training at Oxford."

"Oh," she said, smiling and relaxing instantly. "This should be fun then."

Booth looked a bit surprised, but mainly just relieved, that she hadn't gone off on him for horning in on her trip without her permission. It was nothing to how stunned Cam was.

Parker ran over to them and grabbed Brennan's hand, pulling her down so he could whisper something to her. She laughed and said, "I'll show you where it is," before leading him off to the hallway where the bathrooms were.

"Did she sustain a massive head injury on your vacation, by any chance?" Cam asked Booth.

"No!" Booth said, a bit defensively. "She's fine, Cam, just… leave her alone. She just spent half a day getting mentally prepared to come back to work here and you just flipped all of that upside down."

"I had nothing to do with it, Seeley, I'm just the messenger."

"Yeah. How's everyone doing here?" Booth asked, nodding towards Hodgins and Angela, who kind of seemed not to know what to do at the moment, after Parker's abrupt departure.

"As good as can be expected, I think. Angela's way better than Hodgins."

Booth nodded, expecting that. "I better check in with Cullen real quick." He pulled out his phone, then said to the whole group of them, loudly, "Nobody disappear though, we have presents."

He went up to the platform to make his phone call.

Cam made her way back over to Angela and Hodgins, and Brennan soon came back with Parker clinging to her hand. "What's Daddy doing?" Parker asked her as they rejoined the group and he saw his dad up on the platform, on his phone with his back to them.

"He's probably talking to his boss at the FBI," Brennan explained.

"Why?" Parker asked.

"Because we just found out we have to go somewhere else tomorrow."

"Where?"

"London."

"London?" he squealed excitedly. "Are you gonna meet Harry Potter?"

She laughed, and so did Angela. "I don't think so, Parker."

"Oh." He thought for a minute, then said, "You're leaving tomorrow?"

"Yes."

"When?" he pressed.

"Early. Eight in the morning."

To her surprise, Parker wailed, "You CAN'T leave tomorrow, Tempe! You CAN'T go to London, you CAN'T!" and threw his arms around her waist, hiding his face in her stomach.

She wrapped an arm around his shoulders and put a hand at the back of his head, confused. "Parker, what's the matter?"

"You promised to share all your pictures with me for show and tell when I go back to school! You promised to help me get all my pictures ready! This is going to ruin everything!"

"Parker, we can still do that," she tried to explain. He was crying too much to hear her. Cam looked really alarmed at the sudden racket in the otherwise silent lab. Angela was clutching her heart sympathetically. Even Hodgins looked alarmed, and he was tough to surprise and had been wearing a robotic mask-like expression most of the time they'd been gone from work.

"Okay, come on, we'll go do it right now," Brennan said, thinking Parker was far more likely to calm down and listen if he didn't have an audience of adults staring at him. She picked him up because he wasn't letting go of her, and picked up her carry-on bag too, sliding the strap onto her shoulder. He was crying hard into her shoulder, too upset to listen to her.

"I needed it for my first day of school!" Parker managed between sobs. "I wanted to show the pictures of the dolphins, and my jellyfish stings, and everything!"

"Ange, I need your office," Brennan said firmly.

"Sure, sweetie, I'll let you in," Angela said, wanting to help any way she could.

Brennan carried him to Angela's office, rubbing his back and talking quietly to him, trying to comfort him and hoping he would calm down enough to hear what she was saying. She suspected part of the extreme reaction was due to being over-tired from the long vacation, and sad that it was over. "Look, Parker," she said when they were in Angela's office, sitting down at the chair at Angela's desk with him. "We'll do all the pictures right now," Brennan promised.

"Pictures?" Angela mouthed. Brennan nodded, so Angela went over to her professional quality printer and started making all the selections for paper type and ink type and the like.

"Thanks, Ange. Parker, look." She shifted him in her lap and brushed his bangs off his forehead, pushing his head back gently in the process so she could look him in the face. "We can print off all the pictures for you right now. Are you going to help me?"

He nodded and rubbed his eyes, taking a deep breath.

"Good." She pulled her camera out of her bag and popped out the memory stick. "Here, put this in that slot right there," she showed him, pointing to the right spot on the side of Angela's monitor.

Interested, he complied, still breathing hard but wanting to be part of the process. Brennan pulled up all the pictures from her camera, which were mainly pictures she'd taken for Booth of him and Parker playing together all week, pictures from the boat rides, their parasailing pictures, and the underwater pictures from her dive. "Ready, Angela?" she called.

"Yeah, ready, sweetie."

"Here, now we just send them all to the printer, see? We'll do these first, then we'll get the discs from the trip yesterday and the parasailing…" she rummaged in her bag and pulled out the discs, putting the first one in.

Angela came over to them once she saw that the printer was working properly. "So, what is this big art project you're doing, Parker? Do you need help?"

"Could you?" Parker asked eagerly. "I want to bring my pictures for show and tell my first day of school, because we always have a really long show and tell of what you did in the summer, and this was the bestest summer EVER, I have LOTS to tell."

"I can imagine. Would you like me to help you put together a scrapbook?" Angela asked hopefully.

"Tempe, can I?" Parker squealed.

Brennan sighed. She knew this was not a good idea. Angela would have plenty to say about some of these pictures, particularly the ones she had just sent to the printer that Mary had taken. But Parker wasn't likely to want to put all of those in his scrapbook… and she had been alarmed at how haunted Angela had looked when she'd thought no one was watching. Angela needed a distraction.

And Parker needed to be cheered, or Brennan knew he would be crying when Booth dropped him off at Rebecca's – Booth had once told her that Parker had been four and a half before Booth had ever dropped him off without leaving the little boy in tears. And she had been able to tell, even then, that it had ripped off another little piece of Booth's heart every time he'd had to leave the boy crying.

The simple truth was that the best way she could help the two of them now was to hand Angela a full arsenal of ammunition for her ongoing campaign to get her and Booth together.

"That would be great, if you wouldn't mind helping him, Angela," Brennan said, knowing she'd made the right decision as they both beamed happily at her. "But you'll have to do it right now, and do it quickly, because Parker's supposed to be at Rebecca's in a couple of hours."

"We will," Parker said eagerly.

"He has his own film to develop too, Ange," Brennan added, pulling Parker's three disposable cameras out of her back and handing them to her.

"Great!" Angela said excitedly. "I'll go develop these while you finish printing all those off. Two of each, Bren."

"Two?"

"I'm going to make you a photo album too!" Angela said excitedly, hurrying off with the disposable cameras with a spring in her step.

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When Parker had screamed, Booth had turned towards the sound, but relaxed when he saw his partner already comforting Parker. He didn't know what was upsetting his son, but trusted that she'd come and interrupt his phone call with Cullen if she needed help. When he saw her take Parker away with Angela, he turned his attention back to his boss, who was giving him a hard time about having to be his "secretary" while he was "off playing Beach Blanket Bingo with his partner."

Booth knew that the older man just wanted to let off some steam, and that he wasn't actually in trouble. Still, the courteous thing would be for him to let the man get it all out of his system.

When he got off the phone with Cullen, he went over to Cam and Hodgins, who were looking towards Angela's office in concern.

"What happened?" Booth asked.

"We're not sure," Hodgins said.

"Parker heard Dr. Brennan was going to London tomorrow morning and started throwing a fit," Cam explained.

"He was really upset," Hodgins added.

"Oh. He uh, grew pretty attached to her this week," Booth tried to explain.

"Literally," Hodgins added. "He was stuck to her like a barnacle when she took him to Angela's office."

"Hey, don't call my kid a barnacle, Hodgins. And Angela's office? Why didn't she take her to hers?"

"I don't know," Cam said, while Hodgins just shrugged and offered, "Something about pictures."

Angela came out, wiping her eyes discreetly, but looked full of purpose and much more energetic than she had in a long time.

"Angela?" Booth demanded.

"He's fine," Angela called, heading off down a corridor Booth had never inspected. "Can't talk, I'm on a mission!"

"Looks like Dr. Brennan fixed _both _of them," Hodgins observed.

"Good for her," Cam said, looking impressed. She turned to Booth, looking even more impressed. "So does that mean you fixed Dr. Brennan?"

Booth shrugged and said, "Parker did it, really. I mainly just assisted."

"Mmhmm."

"Right," Hodgins added.

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An hour later, Booth and Brennan, having been shooed out of Angela's office as soon as the pictures were finished, went in to check on Parker, only to find that Hodgins and Cam had already found their way in there too. Cam was leaning on the edge of Angela's desk, arms crossed loosely. Hodgins had wheeled her office chair around too.

Parker and Angela were sitting on the floor, with a ton of pictures spread around the floor in front of them. Parker had construction paper, markers, glue, and stickers all around him, and was assembling a scrapbook Angela must have just had lying around – or maybe she'd just hastily assembled it for Parker.

She was putting pictures in a photo album too, giving herself the easier task so she could help Parker. She was also interrogating him as she went.

"Then what happened?" Angela prompted Parker gently, not noticing as Booth and Brennan entered the room quietly.

"Then Daddy asked if Tempe had some regrets about the night before, and she said no," Parker reported absently, drawing a bunch of waves on the page around the picture he had just glued down. "Then we had breakfast – Tempe made me cheesy eggs and they were the best ever! Then…"

"Angela, you can't interrogate a minor without a lawyer – or his father – present," Booth said, making Cam laugh quietly towards the floor.

Angela gave a guilty little jump of surprise and looked at them hopefully.

Brennan sighed. "You know you're not going to get anything reliable out of him anyway, because he has nothing to tell that would legitimately please you. It's all going to be out of context, like that remark right there that had you so excited."

"I'm reliable!" Parker insisted. "I always tell the truth! But don't worry, Daddy, I won't tell about any of the things I'm not supposed to talk about, especially about Tempe's…"

Brennan hurried over to him quickly and clapped a hand over his mouth, sure he was about to bring up the tattoo. That would just lead to all sorts of questions, from the two in the room who didn't know about it, and then from Angela wanting to know how Booth and his son had ended up seeing it…

"Oops," Parker giggled when she removed her hand and gave him a look. "Sorry. I know! I'll talk about snorkeling some more."

Angela held up a picture to Parker – taken by Mary, it was right after the dolphins had left, when they'd all been hugging excitedly, Parker in his dad's arms. In the picture, Brennan was pressed into her partner's side, hugging him tightly, and kissing him on the cheek, and his arm was curled around her bare waist. "Was this taken the day you were snorkeling?" Angela asked innocently.

Parker glanced at the picture and nodded, turning his attention back to his task. "Yup. That's after the dolphins. We saw sooooooo many dolphins, Miss Angela! It was the best thing ever!"

"I see; there are a ton of awesome dolphin pictures here," Angela said, trying to redirect the conversation. Redirecting Parker was even harder than Brennan – although once she steered him towards the topic, Parker was much more open than Brennan, of course. "So, Parker, did you wake up before your daddy every single day?"

"Almost," Parker said. "Oh, one time they were sleeping on the couch when I got up so I made my own breakfast, all by myself, I got a picture, see?" he rummaged through the photos for the picture he was looking for, while Angela waited eagerly.

Booth groaned. Parker had taken a picture of them sleeping on the couch?

Angela groaned in disappointment when Parker passed her a picture – it was a picture of his breakfast that day, the cold hot dog… not exactly what she'd been hoping for. Still, she did have plenty of great pictures from their boat trip and when they'd all been on the beach together, even if you had to weed through a lot of pictures of Parker's feet, sand castles, the fort he'd made in his room, and almost an entire roll of pictures of his stuffed penguin in funny and amusing poses to find the juicy ones.

And the sweet ones, because really, there were a whole lot of sweet ones in there too. Angela had been a little surprised at the number of pictures of just Booth and Parker, and asked him about it early in the project. "Tempe took them," Parker had explained with a shrug. "For Daddy."

Booth and Brennan had moved to the couch behind Angela and Parker so they could see what pictures Angela was looking at. Booth laughed in relief as Parker showed her a picture of a cold hot dog on the counter top.

"Buddy, we have to leave in one hour at the most, and that's going to be cutting it close," he told Parker, to get him moving faster.

"Why?" Parker asked.

"Because now after I drop you off at your mom's I have to go home, unpack, and repack for our trip, because I have to leave at five to get Bones and go to the airport again."

"Tempe, aren't you coming to drop me off?" Parker asked.

"No, sweetie, I need to go home and pack, remember?"

"But I want to show you something at my house!"

"What?"

"Surprise. Please? I know, you can come with us, then Daddy can take you to your house to pack your bag for London, then you can go to his house and he can pack, and then you can spend the night there and then you won't have to get up so early in the morning to go to the airport!" he said, proud of himself for thinking of that plan.

Angela raised an eyebrow. "Sounds like a good idea to me, sweetie."

Brennan rolled her eyes and, to get them all to stop, said, "I'll go with you to drop you off, Parker, okay? Let's just leave it at that."

"Yay!"

"Get back to work, bub," Booth said, pointing to the mess on the floor.

"Oh, right!"

Angela let him work for a few minutes, then asked, "So, Parker, how many times do you think you saw your dad and Bren kissing?"

Parker shrugged and asked, "On the cheek or the mouth?"

As Brennan exclaimed, "Angela!" Booth yelled, "Parker!"

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Parker hadn't quite finished his scrapbooking project, but Angela had put the half-finished book and all of the loose pictures and supplies left into a big shopping bag for him to take home with him, to finish up the project on his own. He had given her a very shy hug when he thanked her as they hurried him out the door.

Booth knew Rebecca was going to be annoyed that they were late, and bid a hasty goodbye to all of the squints as he rushed his son and partner out the door and back to his SUV after they'd given the squints their souvenirs.

"That could have been worse," his partner admitted quietly once they were underway.

"True," Booth agreed. "Angela was keeping things G-rated for Parker."

She groaned as she realized it was true. "I think it's a good thing there will be an ocean between Angela and me for the next week. Maybe she'll have cooled down by then."

"Yeah, but that's giving her an extra week to go nuts with the album she's making for you," Booth pointed out.

"I like Miss Angela," Parker contributed from the backseat.

"So do I, Parker," Brennan assured him.

"She's funny… but she's a little too girly for me. You're more fun, Tempe."

"Well, thanks, Parker," she said with a laugh, pretty sure that he was the only person on earth who'd ever said she was more fun than Angela.

When they got to Rebecca's, Parker ran to the door excitedly, eager to tell his mom about the trip, taking only his penguin, leaving Booth to get his suitcase. Brennan took his backpack and the bag of scrapbook supplies, lagging behind with Booth. Parker was banging on the door, and Rebecca opened it, smiling hugely at her son and hugging him.

"Hi, sweetheart! Oh, you look like you've grown! I missed you!"

He hugged her back. "Hi mom!"

"Did you have fun?" she asked, as Brennan and Booth approached. "Hi Seeley. Hi Dr. Brennan," she added a bit formally.

"Hi."

"Mom, it was the best vacation ever in the world! And they said we can go back every year! That's okay, right?" Parker asked, knowing his mom was less likely to say no to his dad if Parker asked himself, right in front of him.

"Well, that sounds fine," Rebecca said, masking her surprise. "We'll have to see about that, Parker."

"Moooom…" Parker started.

"Hey," Booth interrupted, not wanting Rebecca to think he was encouraging the boy to be difficult with her. "Didn't you have something to show Bones?"

"Yeah! It's in my room, come on!" Parker said, grabbing her hand and pulling her inside.

Booth came in after them and put the little boy's suitcase down inside the door.

"Sounds like he had a great time," Rebecca said. "Do you want some coffee?"

"No thanks, we have to go. We just found out we have to be on a plane to London at eight in the morning," he explained, then told her briefly about the trip.

"How long are you going to be gone – will you still be able to pick Parker up on his second day of school?"

"Yeah, that shouldn't be a problem. We'll only be there a week. I'll call you if we have to stay longer for any reason."

"Okay. Thank you. Well, I'm glad he had a good time…"

"Yeah. Listen, Rebecca, I need to tell you about one thing."

"What?" she asked nervously. "Did he walk in on something?"

"What?" Booth repeated, confused. Then he got it. "No! Rebecca! It's not like that at all, okay. Why, has he ever walked in on _you_?"

"Seeley, this isn't really the time for that."

"So that's a yes. Fine, we'll table that discussion for another time, because we really do have to go. But what I was going to tell you was that he got stung by a jellyfish – he had some welts on his leg and his underarm."

"Oh, no! The poor baby… what happened?"

"He and I were playing on the beach, he was in knee-deep water, and it just… happened. I'm really sorry, Rebecca. Bones knew exactly what to do, she took care of him immediately, and he was just fine."

Rebecca still looked troubled, but he knew she'd be okay once the news sank in and she quizzed Parker about the incident once they were alone.

"Well, I better go say goodbye to Parker. We really need to go," Booth said quickly, heading to Parker's room. Rebecca followed him, wanting to talk to Parker as soon as they were alone.

Brennan was standing in the middle of Parker's room. He was orbiting her, pointing to nearly everything in there. "…This is my bookshelf, those are my books, that's my hockey poster, that's a picture of me and Daddy when I was a baby, those are my favorite shoes…"

"Parks, we have to go, buddy," Booth interrupted gently from the doorway.

He sighed. "Okay. Are you going to bring me something neat from London?" he asked them hopefully.

"Parker," Rebecca chided.

"We will," Booth promised. "Come on, give me a hug for the road, because I'm going to miss you when I'm in England."

Parker ran over to him and hugged him tightly, resting his cheek on Booth's shoulder and refusing to let go. Booth stood up holding him and nodded for his partner to follow him out of Parker's room. They made their way back to the front door. Booth kissed the back of his head and set him down. "I love you, buddy. I'll see you soon, okay?"

Parker nodded, his chin trembling a little bit as he tried hard not to cry. "I love you too, Daddy. Thanks for bringing me to the beach. It was the best vacation ever!"

"I'm glad." Booth ruffled his hair and stood up.

Parker hugged Brennan next, and she bent down to hug him back. "Bye, Parker. Thanks for letting me come with you. It was a lot of fun."

"Thank you for the vacation. And for saving me from the jellyfish, and making my bunk beds safe for me, and everything. I love you."

"I love you too."

He kissed her on the cheek and let go of her reluctantly, waving at both of them. As Booth ushered his partner out the door and back towards the car, she glanced back over her shoulder to see Parker still waving in the doorway. He was crying quietly, trying very hard not to.

Booth's hand went to the small of her back to get her moving faster, and she looked at him in surprise. His jaw was clinched firmly. "Looking back makes it worse," he muttered to her as he opened her door. "For everyone."

She felt so sorry for him that she didn't snap at him for the chivalrous act. She waited until he had pulled into traffic and then said sincerely, "That was very difficult, even for me. I can't imagine what it must be like for you, Booth. I'm sorry you always have to drop him off like that, and leave." She didn't think there was anything else she could say that would be good enough.

Booth nodded, eyes firmly on the road. "It's easier now than it used to be. He hardly ever cries anymore. But you're right. It's terrible. But there's nothing else that can be done. I'm not going to not see my kid because I hate saying goodbye at the end."

She nodded, understanding. She didn't think there would be much she could do for him to make him less sad about saying goodbye to Parker after such a wonderful trip, but maybe she could help a little.

"I don't understand why he wanted to show me every possession in his room," she stated truthfully.

Booth chuckled. "You fell for the oldest trick in the book, Bones."

"What do you mean?"

"He just wanted you to come with us, Bones."

"Oh. Well, that was sweet. Although he could have just asked."

"He likes to think he's getting away with things, sometimes."

"I actually thought he had a pretty good idea, although I suggest we reverse it a bit."

"What?"

"It would be much easier if we went to your place, got your things, and you spent the night at my apartment. It's closer to the airport and we won't have to leave as early that way."

"Oh. Are you sure?" he asked, liking the idea but not wanting her to feel obligated to spend time with him just because he was missing his son.

"Yes. Besides, you said there was a movie you wanted me to see."

"That's true. I'll be sure to pick it up at my apartment."

They drove in comfortable silence for a few minutes, before Booth said, "Hey, Bones?"

"Yeah?"

"Next year when we go to the beach, I think you should let Angela do _all _of your packing."

She punched him on the arm, hard, but they were both laughing.

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Booth groaned as he pocketed his cell phone, flopped down onto the foot of his partner's bed, and wondered how much longer she was going to be.

Brennan came out of the bathroom of her hotel room, looking at him curiously. "I'm ready, let's go meet Inspector Pritchard. What's wrong?"

"I just checked my messages."

She knew this was Parker's first day of school. "Parker didn't have a good day?" she guessed, wrinkling her nose.

"No. Parker had a_ great_ day. His teacher didn't."

"What happened?"

"You're coming with me, just so you know. This is all your fault," he informed her evenly.

"What did I do? Booth! What. Happened."

"Parent-Teacher Conference, next Wednesday morning at ten is what happened. _You _can explain to his teacher why he used show and tell time to give a very detailed lesson about dolphins to his new classmates."

"So what if he did?" she demanded defensively. "There's nothing wrong with…"

"_Anatomy _lesson, Bones," Booth explained.

"Oh," she said quietly. She still didn't see what the big deal was, although she supposed that some children might be more immature than Parker and the teacher might have trouble controlling the classroom if they all acted very juvenile about the subject matter.

"Yeah. '_Oh._' Bones, he drew pictures on the chalk board!" Booth exclaimed exasperatedly. It was obvious to him that his partner did not understand what the big deal was, and was really only sympathizing with him to humor him. Fine. She could explain everything to the teacher then.

He scowled at her on the way to the elevator – he refused to call it a _lift. _Her shoulders were shaking in a futile effort to control her laughter. His hand slid, completely by itself (he would vehemently insist, if she called him on it, which so far she hadn't done the four other times it had happened), from its usual spot at the small of her back around to her waist, two fingers resting over the spot where he now knew her to have a tattoo.

He lowered his voice, because the elevator was very crowded, and muttered, "You and your dolphins."

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The end.


End file.
